THE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT industry continues to be faced with growing challenges that are driving providers to enhance their offerings and expand their role in the marketplace. In 2005, an emphasis on speed and cost, and a misperception that basic online offerings can fill complex booking needs, are factors to be weighed up by companies looking to control travel spend. Travel management companies must therefore address new ways in which client companies can manage travel and information through a combination of applied technology and human expertise.
On the logistics front, ever-increasing competition from single-supplier internet travel sites forces providers constantly to prove their worth. Such products targeted to the individual purport to make life simpler for one-off bookings, but they also make tracking transactions, comparison of fares and ensuring compliance on a corporate policy level significantly more complicated.
On the budget side, a reduction in commissions from big airlines means that providers must rely increasingly on transaction fees for revenue.