Getting the Most from Your Travel Spend in 2017

With the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, currency fluctuations, emerging markets, and various geopolitical events at play, planning and developing a travel budget can be challenging. As companies around the globe prepare for the new fiscal year, travel professionals are working diligently to determine how these factors will impact their travel spend.

In order to assist with the process, the GBTA Foundation and Carlson Family Foundation recently held a webinar titled Global Travel Price Outlook: Getting the Most from Your Travel Spend in 2017. The educational session drew from the 2017 Global Travel Price Outlook, which highlights six key risks that could drive business travel demand and travel prices. The report also forecasts pricing for air, hotel, ground transportation and meetings and events.

Rockport Analytics Research & Insight VP Jon Gray touched on the significance of currency fluctuations in different markets, stressing the possibility of big implications as the buying power of the USD improves. The presenters also discussed the average expected prices for airlines, hotels, rental cars, meetings and events before delving into the specifics of each region.

Overall, global airline prices are expected to increase by 2.5%, as are hotel prices. Global rental cars prices are expected to remain flat at 0.0%, and moderate growth is anticipated for meetings and events. Less events are expected, but with more attendees. The session ended with various recommendations for travel professionals, with the presenters stressing the importance of consolidating research from multiple sources and being flexible to make program changes as needed.

GBTA members may view webinars in full through the Hub. These sessions are just around the corner:

• Single-Use Virtual Payments: Benefits and Barriers (Tuesday, October 11 – 2:00 PM ET)
• Replay: A Mobile Effect – Travel Programs and Setting a Clear Mobile Strategy (Wednesday, October 12 – 1:00 PM China Standard Time)
• Talk and Txt: The Emerging Interfaces of Business Travel (Thursday, October 13 – 2:00 PM ET)
• The Airline Alliance Puzzle (Tuesday, October 18 – 2:00 PM ET)

The full schedule of webinars is available here.