Whitepaper

GBTA Study: The Future of Business Travel

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The role of the travel buyer in the meetings and events industry has been significantly expanded in the past five years—from responsibilities to departmental changes.

The Travel Buyer of the Future

A recent GBTA study uncovered a wealth of information surrounding this change, including that while some responsibilities such as hotel & airline negotiations, addressing traveler concerns, and working with TMCs remain an enduring part of their roles. Today’s travel buyer is also spending more time managing risk, employee satisfaction and retention, and technology integration.

For example, for travel buyer’s surveyed with over five years of experience, half (46%) say they are more involved with meetings management than they were five years ago, two-thirds (66%) say they are more involved in evaluating and implementing new technology, and seven in ten (70%) say they are more involved in issues of traveler safety and duty of care.

The data supports a continued industry evolution toward increased globalization, emerging data privacy and security laws, and supplier disruption and fragmentation.

This study explores the changing world of business travel and meetings management to identify what is driving the evolution of the travel buyer role, and how travel buyers are adapting to changes.

In this report, you’ll learn:

  • The changing goals and responsibilities of today and tomorrow’s travel buyers
  • The reasons behind the big shift in responsibilities and priorities changed
  • How the changing priorities will and already are impacting supplier selection and relationships
  • How the changing landscape of business travel and meetings management impacted travel policies and programs