Top 5 takeaways from Business Travel Show 2020

Last month, CTM exhibited our services at Business Travel Show – Europe’s largest exhibition for the corporate travel industry. The show attracted a record number of hosted buyers in 2020, despite facing challenges such as growing concern for COVID-19. This year’s theme revolved around ‘conscious travel’, which was represented throughout the speaker sessions and exhibitor news.

We asked a few of CTM’s representatives at the show what their biggest takeaways from Business Travel Show 2020 were, and how they see this impacting business travel for the year ahead.

1. 83% of travellers are willing to give up their data in exchange for greater personalisation*

“This gives TMCs the opportunity to build dynamic traveller profiles and target audiences at an extremely granular level. For example, marketing products/services to travellers such as in-flight wi-fi for flights over a certain duration, knowing that they usually purchase it for long-haul trips.”

Natasha Baynes – Marketing Manager

 

2. Green travel policies will be commonplace by 2030*

“It was great to see that most buyers are concerned with incorporating more sustainable business travel measures into their programmes in 2020. CTM has taken the steps to become carbon-neutral in our travel, and on Day 1 of BTS we launched our Climate+ initiative for our clients to support them in achieving this also.”

Shelley Mathews – VP Sales and Client Services

 

3. Travel managers should focus on empowering the traveller

“I went to a really interesting session on Today’s Challenges and Tomorrow’s Solutions. The biggest challenges spoken about were global health risks (in the wake of COVID-19) and the shift to a millennial workforce and what that means for management. The solution was to focus on empowering the traveller, i.e. some companies weren’t setting a global travel ban but were enabling the traveller to decide whether or not to travel. The same mentality is to be adopted when dealing with a millennial workforce, who have different needs and demands to the generation before them.”

David Di Feliciantonio – Director of Corporate Solutions

 

4. Exhibitors are becoming more environmentally conscious

“The biggest thing I noticed from BTS this year was the lack of brochures, collateral, and giveaways. Exhibitors have cut back on all of this in an effort to be more sustainable. It’s great to see them prioritise this in their service offering too, such as eliminating single-use plastics.”

Rebecca Bardsley – Partnership Manager Supplier Relations

 

5. There will be 40.6 billion IoT connected devices by 2025*

“This was my biggest takeaway as it poses a real challenge for IT professionals when ensuring travellers are safe from data security threats while away. Travel managers need to educate their travellers on safe practices and make sure every device has security software installed. On the other side, it’s also a real opportunity for travel suppliers to collect information and use it to personalise experiences.”

Karen Janssen – Chief Information Officer

 

2020 Theme: Conscious Travel

In line with the show’s theme of ‘conscious travel’, CTM launched the Climate+ initiative for clients, which offers built-in carbon reporting and offsetting functionality within the CTM Portal. CTM also revealed the enhanced SMART Data analytics tool, providing customers with better insights into their travel behaviours. Find out more about both products below:

CTM’s Climate+ Initiative: Read more.

SMART Data enhanced reporting: Read more.

 

*Travel 2025: Salman Syed, Vice President EMEA, Travel Network – Sabre