The business of travel
Suzanne Horner, CEO of Gray Dawes Travel, highlights travel business priorities and need-to-knows for a successful business
year in 2022
There are plenty of reasons for the business travel community to feel excited about the new year. The key word for corporate travel managers is going to be diversify. Across every type of organisation, there are many strategic discussions at board level which are affecting travel. Be it Duty of Care with the newly released Risk Management Standards (reference ISO 31030), or itinerary or app-based tracking technological innovations and how these integrate with a company’s travel provider, the role of the travel manager will see a lot of exciting changes.
The major trend for the next three years, particularly in post-Brexit Britain, is going to be employee wellbeing. With the talent pool in many sectors being restricted, it has never been more important to go beyond mere legal compliance, and develop an employee-centric culture.
Of course, COP26 has made sustainability goals a must have, rather than a nice to have. Travel Managers must explore various carbon measurement approaches like DEFRA or WTT and work out how they can influence travel sustainably through identifying low carbon-emitting suppliers – rather than stunting business continuity and traveller comfort through restricting travel or downgrading class.
The cost of travel, especially air and car travel, is expected to rise substantially in 2022 as vendors adjust supply to demand. While this is something for suppliers to be cheerful about, travel managers must work with their TMC to budget accordingly. Applying peer benchmarking and implementing behaviours to keep costs down, including advance purchase and online adoption, are two solutions. These areas took a back seat to traveller convenience during the height of the pandemic, but can now be reintroduced where case rates are low.
Diversity, inclusion and equity
Fiona Anderson, company director of GEC PR, explains how the travel industry can benefit from a more diverse approach to hiring and marketing
In 2022, British travel firms would do well to follow recent data and focus on greater diversity across both recruitment and marketing.
The data hasn’t always been there to inform the need for diversity across the UK travel industry, but recent research by academics, dynamic travel brands and professional services firms is changing that.
The UK is a diverse nation, with some 14 per cent of the population identifying as black or minority ethnic. Yet a 2020 PWC travel trade study stated that only one in 33 leaders in the travel, hospitality or leisure industry identify as from these communities.
In summer 2021, the University of Surrey School of Hospitality Management conducted research, in partnership with Women in Travel CIC, to provide insights into the experiences and preferences of black and minority ethnic travellers. They found that most of those respondents felt underrepresented in travel communications at home and abroad, despite an avid passion for travel. Those surveyed were acutely aware that very few senior positions in the travel industry are occupied by persons of colour.
Our industry therefore needs to evolve and proactively recruit and retain talent from diverse communities. By recruiting from a wider range of backgrounds, travel brands can gain greater diversity of thought, less uniform thinking, and a team that better understands the needs of a wider customer base.
Similarly, to appeal to a greater range of travellers, marketing should reflect them in messaging and imagery. Whether you have an in-house team or agency managing your PR and marketing, be sure that your communications team understands the target audiences and engages with them. Just incorporating diverse images into your marketing lacks authenticity – and is a sure-fire way to result in tone-deaf marketing that could tarnish or ruin your brand’s reputation and damage sales.
Among the many recommendations of the pioneering University of Surrey study was that travel businesses must work harder to embrace a culture of diversity and inclusion, and UK travel businesses cannot afford to ignore the diversity data. It makes pretty clear that the diversity ‘trend’ is not fleeting, but is well and truly here to stay.