Mastercard released a new research report “Navigating Global Business Travel,” unveiling the needs and challenges of business travelers, according to a study of over 500 travel-decision makers from key markets around the world. 

With corporate travel making a comeback, Mastercard’s study looks at some of the key factors impacting the state of business travel – including our hybrid working world, the rise of emerging technologies like AI, along with shifting organizational priorities and employee expectations..

Chad Wallace, Global Head of Commercial Solutions at Mastercard said: “We are at the edge of transformation for the business traveler experience. With global business travel on the rise, a simple, seamless T&E experience is essential in providing a foundation for success and progress in this space. Mastercard is accelerating travel payment innovation and providing business travelers with a better experience every step of their journey.”

 “The corporate travel industry is at an inflection point in the way we approach managing business travel spend.  New payment solutions are emerging to fulfill the shifting needs of the industry, enabling travelers and their companies to get real-time spend visibility, to optimize spend controls and to automate the process of tracking expenses.”

 “Virtual cards present significant opportunity to address the historic challenges associated with corporate travel payments by delivering improved visibility, enhanced security, and increased control. The ability to set spend parameters on the type of purchase, the time period, and even the merchants the card can be used at, is a game-changing advantage for corporations managing budgets around events, conferences and business travel.”

Mastercard “Navigating Global Business Travel” Study Highlights:

The business travel industry is at a tipping point: 90% of travel decision makers agree that our growing hybrid/remote workforce will significantly increase the amount of business travel our organization does over the next 10 years. The unprecedented change in the business travel landscape presents an opportunity to re-evaluate traditional practices – the vast majority of travel decision makers (87%) agree that there is an opportunity to overhaul legacy systems.

The hybrid workforce is transforming travel expenses: Rising travel volume yields higher T&E spend – yet we’re seeing this take different shape: 2/3 of travel decision makers reported that they incurred different types of expenses and that this new workforce has made it more difficult to forecast and budget for travel expenses.

The rise of the “Chief Travel Officer”: Across business today, travel decision making is a fragmented process that requires stakeholders across organizations – from HR and finance to security and technology – making it increasingly difficult to streamline processes. 85% of travel decision makers agree it will be commonplace to have a “Chief Travel Officer” to manage corporate travel processes in the next ten years.

Business travel can help your bottom line: Maintaining travel is not only critical to fueling new growth but also for avoiding revenue decline and employee turnover. Nearly half of travel decision-makers say cutting business travel will decrease revenue by more than 10% in the next 3 years and increase employee turnover by more than 10% in the same timeframe.

Travel decision makers are maximizing corporate cards for business travel:  1 in 3 travel decision makers still report that employees at their organization use personal cards to book travel, creating challenges into spend visibility and missed travel reward opportunities for organizations. The new hybrid working environment is requiring these decision makers to maximize the use of cards as employees put more business travel expenses on cards – with 90% reporting that they plan on offering a T&E card program to optimize spend and controls to improve T&E processes.

Virtual cards are taking flight: Travel decision makers’ number one priority is the ability to provide or obtain mobile virtual cards to manage employee and non-employee travel spending  – and 9 in 10 expect it will be commonplace for most companies (48%) to have virtual cards to book travel within the next five years.

The business traveler experience in the age of AI: AI is making waves across the way organizations operate – and its impact on employee travel is no exception. 91% of travel decision makersreported they are planning on investing in AI and machine learning to provide employees with a more personalized travel experience in the next five years to improve T&E processes.

The role of company ESG initiatives on business travel: With business leaders prioritizing sustainable business practices, 9 in 10 travel decision makers attest that their responsibilities now include a greater emphasis on ESG tracking for business travel and the top priority for leaders is understanding the impact from carbon emissions of travel choices.