In the world of 2060 imagined by AirPlus, long-haul journeys will never exceed 2.5 hours, the maximum duration of a plane journey according to Mark Harris' projections. As for rail, 90% of trains will arrive on time in the world of tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, when hypersonic trains will be running. Did you say utopia? Not necessarily: the electric car hardly fits into this projection, since it will account for barely 10% of new vehicle sales by 2040, including hybrid vehicles...
Naturally, new technologies play a crucial role in this futuristic vision of business travel. And a number of developments already underway are set to become part of the daily routine for business travellers: "The smartphone of the future will act as a ticket for public transport, a plane ticket, a car key, a hotel room pass and a means of payment", notes the white paper. New technologies are also being introduced in the world of meetings, with videoconferencing set to become a more systematic reflex, using 3D hologram technology.
In addition to these new tools, which are sure to make the generation Y businessman salivate, the entire travel management profession is preparing to undergo radical change. So much so, in fact, that Yael Klein, Managing Director of AirPlus in the UK, said: "the concept of travel management will be a thing of the past". But travel managers can rest assured that their profession is not on the verge of extinction, but rather on the verge of change, as already mentioned by the AFTM in its fifth White Paper on Mobility Management. A development that will push professionals to cover a wider spectrum of functions, including - as is already the case in a growing number of companies - the area of meetings. Meetings should therefore continue to be integrated into the world of travel management, to the point where business travel and meetings can be seen as one and the same "item". In a world where business travel will be increasingly expensive, given the scarcity of natural resources, travel for internal meetings seems doomed, as "financially unviable and socially unacceptable" according to Mark Harris. The business traveller is also likely to become more autonomous, with global travel programmes giving way to individual choices that are all the more informed given that irresponsible bookings would then be considered serious misconduct... As for data confidentiality - a sensitive issue that has been in the international news for several months - the white paper "Business Travel in 2060" puts pragmatism before utopia, with the subject purely and simply classed as "obsolete"...
