Millennial business travellers push the future of corporate travel

UK based travel techspert Travelport has published data which suggests millennial travellers are driving corporate travel towards a post-digital era in Asia Pacific (APAC) as their exceptionally high use of digital channels is being met by mounting frustrations with existing offerings.

According to the study, more millennial business travellers in APAC use a mobile device when researching (68%) and booking (67%) a trip than in any other region worldwide. Use is second highest in North America (64% and 55%, respectively) and lowest in Europe (54% and 45%, respectively). One third (36%) of millennial business travellers in APAC even now claim they use mobile devices to both book and pay for ‘every trip’.

“Millennial travellers in APAC are now heavily using digital channels in all stages of business travel”

In addition, the research revealed that more millennial business travellers in APAC are turning to travel booking sites to help them discover ‘bleisure’ experiences (45%) than in any other region. Once again, North America (41%) ranks second and use is lowest in Europe (26%).

The study also revealed, however, that millennial business travellers in APAC have a growing list of pain points with current digital offerings. Around half, for example, are still left frustrated by companies not giving them access to their booking information on all of their mobile devices (53%), not using data to remember their preferences (45%) and not giving them the option of booking everything in one place (48%).

Travelport’s Mark Meehan, group vice president and managing director of APACMEA, said: “Millennial travellers in APAC are now heavily using digital channels in all stages of business travel. This high use, however, is being matched by increasing frustrations with existing offerings, which indicates corporate travel in the region is on the verge of leaving the digital age and entering the post-digital era. In this new era, sellers of corporate travel need to use digital channels to deliver value in more modern and sophisticated ways. This could be by solving more complex problems, enhancing personalization or more proactively meeting millennials’ needs for memorable bleisure experiences.”