Iata’s new XML standard NDC has slipped down the table of issues that will have an impact on the corporate travel sector, according to an annual survey by the Business Travel Show.
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Mobile and Open Booking top list of issues for business travel buyers
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Iata’s new XML standard NDC has slipped down the table of issues that will have an impact on the corporate travel sector, according to an annual survey by the Business Travel Show.
The trade show, that will run alongside Travel Technology Europe on February 25 and 26 at London’s Olympia exhibition centre, received responses from 179 travel buyers.
The results saw mobile come top of the list of important issues, having been third in last year’s survey.
Open Booking, was in second place and BYOD (bring your own device) fourth.
Asked if there was a technology section in their travel policy 59% said no and only a quarter said yes. Only 9% said they planned to implement one in the next 12 months.
Just over half (57%) said they allowed travellers to use external mobile apps.
Buyer Jef Robinson, global category manager (travel and meetings) at Citrix Systems, said: “The biggest opportunity for buyers in 2015 is leveraging the use of technology, especially mobile technology.
“This is changing at a rapid rate and travellers are likely to be keeping up with these changes in their personal life, increasing their own efficiency.
“The reality is that travellers want to make booking travel as easy as possible and know that they are getting a great deal – exactly the sort of things that consumer services offer.
“There are also some great business travel tools in the market and businesses must understand what’s out there and seize the opportunities to incorporate them into their travel programmes where possible.”
Of the respondents 73% worked in the UK and 43% were responsible for 1,000-plus travellers.
A third had an annual travel budget of less than £150,000 and 33% of £10 million plus.
