Digital transformation across the business travel landscape is set to increase in 2024, with investment in travel technology expected to rise by 14 per cent over the next 12 months, according to the latest research by Amadeus.
Corporate travel managers, in particular, expect to increase spend in travel-related technology by 15 per cent this year, according to the Travel Technology Investment Trends 2024 report, released today (14 March).
Responding to questions by BTN Europe, Amadeus said “a wide variety of objectives” are driving investment in corporate travel and expense technology – namely the need to increase collaboration between teams (41 per cent of companies), ensure employee wellbeing and safety while on the road (38 per cent) and improve travel policy adherence (37 per cent).
The ability to prove the value or measure the return on investment of trips is another area of focus for 36 per cent of companies, while investments in travel tech to support broader digital transformation objectives is a cornerstone for 29 per cent of companies.
Decius Valmorbida, president, travel at Amadeus, said the advent of hybrid working models had provided an additional push towards online collaborative tools as companies seek to “fully digitise their interactions with employees”.
“We have B2B [channels], B2C and now we have B2E, which is business to employee,” he explained, adding that many corporations are investing in creating a collaborative and digital environment for travel planning and expense management.
According to the report, a third of corporate travel managers reported their organisations intend to digitise the complete end-to-end expense management process in the coming 12 months.
A third of travel payment providers also confirmed they are looking to better manage global payments flows by implementing payments orchestration this year.
The study, which surveyed 1,253 travel technology decision makers in 10 global markets (including in Europe, the UK, France and Germany), found machine learning was perceived by travel industry leaders to be the most important technology to their businesses – both this year and in five years’ time, while data analytics and cloud computing are also seen as top investment priorities by all sectors.
The potential of smarter airline retailing, personalisation and driving digital efficiency were also recurring themes.
Full-service airlines expect to see an 18 per cent increase in revenue from switching to modern retailing and most expect to complete their NDC “transformation” within the next four years.
Meanwhile, 60 per cent of airports expect to roll-out biometrics across the complete airport experience in the next five years, including check-in, bag-drop, lounge and boarding. Almost all the air carriers included in the survey (98 per cent) said they have implemented or plan to implement biometrics at airport services.
Amadeus, too, is also looking to play a bigger role in this space, having recently acquired biometric solutions specialist Vision-Box in a transaction worth around €320 million.
On the hospitality front, 85 per cent of respondents anticipate greater personalisation could help them to deliver more than 5 per cent growth in incremental revenue in 2024.
Commenting on the findings, Valmorbida said “every area of the travel industry is increasing investment in digital transformation”.
“It’s crucial this spending delivers maximum impact and improves the traveller experience across the travel ecosystem. Existing technologies, such as biometrics, are already helping to make trips more contextualised and relevant. At the same time, the emergence of generative AI promises to increase the pace of change still further.”
He continued: “Travellers will experience significant improvement to the on-trip experience in the coming years, with commitment, investment and collaboration across the ecosystem combining to make travel work better.”
The results of the Travel Technology Investment Trends 2024 report were presented in extended reality in an ‘Amadeus Lounge’ created in collaboration with Accenture.
During the first half of 2024, Amadeus expects to release in-depth reports examining each of the travel sector verticals explored in the global research, including: full-service and low-cost carriers, hotels, airports, corporate travel managers and payments, as well as travel sellers, including TMCs.