After months of increases - some of them brutal - the business travel prices are they stabilising? And should these substantially higher prices be used as a pretext for new standard for the years to come? This is one option considered by the authors of the 2024 Global Business Travel Forecast, published in mid-August by CWT and GBTA. Patrick Andersen, CEO of CWT, puts it this way: " Prices seem to be stabilising and the increases forecast for the next 12 to 18 months are much smaller. We could be witnessing the real new cost of travel.".
This new cost will therefore include the rate hike recorded in 2022, estimated at +72% in the airline sector according to CWT and GBTA. L'hotels (+29.8%) and the car rental (+9.81TP3Q) did not escape this upward trend. And the meetings & events was also particularly hard hit, with an increase of 58.1% in the average daily cost per participant.
According to the report 2024 Global Business Travel ForecastThe increase is confirmed this year, and will continue next year, but at a significantly slower pace. For example, the average price of a plane ticket is expected to reach 766 $ this year (+2.3%) and 780 $ in 2024 (+1.8%). The authors of the report estimate that "many buyers now have less leverage to negotiate with airlines, as their travel volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels".
As for the meetings & events the average daily cost per participant would be 169 $ in 2023, and 174 $ next year. This represents successive increases of 5.6% and 3%. "Event preparation times remain short in this post-pandemic world"The authors of the report point out, adding: ".organisers must now look ahead to 2024 with a 12-month planning cycle if they want to keep prices at a reasonable level. At the same time, consolidating expenditure on transit travel and management and engineering services can give buyers more leverage when negotiating prices.".
to higher tariffs according to CWT and GBTA
Faced with this future pricing environment, CWT and GBTA invite travel buyers to adopt "a new approach. Among the recommendations made by the authors of the report are that companies should anticipate bookings and make greater use of new technologies. "Suppliers are using sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence to help them with their pricing models, including continuous pricing. Buyers need to be one step ahead".
