Are corporate travel managers becoming redundant?
One third of corporate travel bookings will be made online this year, according to projections by the research firm PhoCusWright. This growth is being fueled by the major online travel companies Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity’s projected increase of the $91 billion market for managed business travel from 10% to 15% by 2008.
Many Fortune 500 companies have embraced online bookings for their employees, saving the company lots of money, while providing their employees the convenience of online bookings and quicker expense reimbursements. In some instances, costs have been reduced for each travel purchase transaction from $50-$80 down to $5, plus reduced airfares of up to 30 percent.
While all this has been good for business executives, the highly paid corporate travel managers who oversee corporate travel programs for these companies fear for their jobs…a hot topic at the National Business Travel Association annual convention in San Diego that ends today.
Adapting to these changes is the key to survival.
Some corporate travel managers have been able to shift their freed-up time from tactical to more strategic role and take on more of role in other areas such as corporate meetings planning, relocation, etc.. After all, many corporations realize these travel managers were the people responsible in the successful implementation of their online booking system and retain them to manage other travel related areas which need attention.
Travel managers at midsize and smaller organizations are the most likely to see their jobs eliminated.
Charles Kao
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