Business Travel Show Europe returned a few weeks ago at ExCeL London. "As Europe’s largest specialised exhibition and conference bringing together over 8,800 European travel professionals, this long established and reputable event provides corporate travel buyers and managers with the suppliers, knowledge and contacts to help create and develop successful travel programmes." (Business Travel News).
This year was the first time that Jane Worrow, Sales Director, UK & Europe, of Grasp Technologies, was an exhibitor at the show. In an interview with BTN (Business Travel Show), Jane expressed her excitement in showing how data leads to better opportunities. "Whether you're in procurement, IT, or the core Travel Manager; Data provides a lot of intelligence and information, from duty of care, knowing your suppliers, and understanding the behavior of your travelers. In todays world, that is very important." Watch the full interview below!
Topics of interest
The show had a number of educational sessions that touched upon a broad range of subjects. Some of the topics discussed included sustainability, traveler and program benefits, payments, EU travel regulations, compliance, virtual meetings, the return to travel, and much more.
Here are some key takeaways from Business Travel Show Europe:
- Travel is getting busier with policies shifting from "critical" to "essential travel", though the appetite to return to travel is good
- Furlough ended on the October 1st, so TMCs are trying to get staff returned
- Travel Managers are still redesigning travel programs and looking for better insights and visibility, to reduce leakage, drive compliance and monitor traveler activity and behavior
- Travel and Expense are more closely linked than ever before
- Offline bookings are still preferred due to the complexities around regulations and the procedures to travel
- Travel Managers are trying to drive better behavior to help manage compliance and duty of care
- Sustainability measurements, guidance and management are playing a part in how travel returns
- Most suppliers, particularly hotels are being flexible in terms of thresholds and agreements until travel trends even out
If you'd like to catch up on all the live-streamed and online content from Business Travel Show Europe, you can access all the content here!