"Economy" is - unsurprisingly - the watchword of the travel buyers surveyed by BCD Travel in the latest study published by the TMC. Of the 132 professionals questioned by the travel agency, almost 90 % gave cost savings priority as their main concern when it came to managing and sourcing suppliers. This priority therefore comes well ahead of data collection (38 %), compliance control (36 %) and supplier consolidation (31 %). And not surprisingly, travel buyers are also eyeing up the potential of artificial intelligence. AI could be called upon to respond to the need to reduce the amount of work, a priority cited by a quarter of those surveyed.
According to data gathered by BCD, just 15 % of buyers currently use AI. But things could change quickly: the increased use of AI is cited by six out of ten travel buyers as one of the trends likely to influence their profession. The increase in multi-year agreements (46 %) is also being closely monitored. This is understandable, given that negotiating and managing contracts is identified as the most time-consuming task by more than half of travel buyers (52 %).
