Redefining Corporate

Travel Management
Pil ars for effective managed travel

January 2019

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Table of contents
1. Foreword 4

2. Executive Summary 6

3. Corporate Travel Market Overview 10

4. The Discerning Corporate Business Traveller 18

5. Four Pillars of Corporate Travel Management 25

Safety 28
Efficiency 36
Productivity 45
Transparency 51

6. Towards a more effective Corporate

Travel Environment 58

7. Glossary 63
Forewords
The dynamics of business travel have been Corporate travel in India is being propelled by
changing around the world in sync with the fast changing innovative technologies and an
new age corporate traveller. India continues increasing number of millennials in business
to grow at a rapid pace with increasing travel. As India strengthens its position in the
contribution to global business travel spends. global economy, the need to expand to new
With an annual growth of more than 11%, geographies and explore new regions for
we are expected to be in the top five by business has been growing in tandem.
2022, up from being at ten in 2015.
With a rich demographic dividend, India
Millennials are playing an important role is uniquely placed to capitalise on the
in re-defining business travel which is emerging travel trends driven by tech savvy
becoming increasingly value driven and tech employees. These can be leveraged for
savvy, and often seen as an indicator of driving adoption and implementation of new
professional growth. technological tools and techniques to drive
efficiencies in travel.
This whitepaper analyses four pillars that
make up a successful travel management An effective travel management programme
programme; the focus is on delivering cost can boost a company’s performance by
efficiencies while maintaining transparency, allowing organisations to focus on their core
eventually fulfilling the goal of ensuring business and employees on their work. To
safety of employees and increasing their address the many variables in play, corporate
productivity through a seamless travel travel management can be organized broadly
experience. into four pillars: Safety of employees,
Efficiency in terms of cost, Productivity of
It presents businesses with a holistic employees and Transparency within the
approach towards business travel and helps programme.
them in setting benchmarks to evaluate the
performance of their chosen travel partner. With India’s ample appetite for emerging
With our third edition, we aim to put forward technologies and collaboration between all
our Duty of Care and present insight into players in the corporate travel ecosystem,
emerging travel trends and solutions to India is poised to become one of the top five
challenges of business travel. markets for business travel by 2022. Through
robust corporate travel management, there
is great potential for India to leapfrog to an
even higher position.

Rakshit Desai Jaideep Ghosh

Managing Director Partner and Head
FCM Travel Solutions – India Transport, Leisure and Sports
FCM is part of Flight Centre KPMG in India
Travel Group, Australia
5
Executive
Summary
The global business travel market is expected Global Business Travel Market
to grow steadily, with India as one of the fastest
growing segments. To truly recognize benefits of Global business travel spend
business travel, corporates need to look at their stood at USD 1.33 trillion in
travel management programme in a holistic way, 2017 and is estimated to have
taking many factors into consideration. These factors grown by 7.1% in 20181.
include employee safety and satisfaction, cost
control, policy compliance and a transparent system.

Post an era of uncertainty, business travel spends

India-China-Indonesia (ICI) travel
have finally reached pre-recession levels. The two
spend is predicted to reach USD 565
year period of 2017-2018 emerged as the strongest
billion in 2022 and is projected to
for business travel since 2010, driven by a boost in
be the largest in the world by 20351.
the global economy and a digitally inclined millennial
workforce.
India is the 7th largest business
In India, the business travel spends stood at USD travel market globally and is
37 billion in 20171, and are expected to grow projected to be amongst the top
further as companies expand their businesses in an 5 travel markets by 20221.
increasingly connected world. Almost 60% of Indians
between 19-34 years of age3 consider business
travel an indicator of professional growth as well as Expected business travel spends
a staus symbol.3 of up to USD 46 billion in 2019
Thus, to achieve further growth, organisations in India2, with a projected annual
need to adopt a comprehensive travel programme growth rate of 11.5%1.
that aims to integrate and fulfil the needs of all the
stakeholders involved.

The Discerning Indian Business Traveller

Travel consumers
In order to ensure getting spend
‘value for money’ 49
91% minutes spread over

46% use review sites5 days, visiting as many as

Spend their leisure 17
time in exploring the
destination while on
85% different online
use price comparison touchpoints to plan,
their business trip4 research, and make a
sites5
booking5

25% of domestic business travellers are

now women6

Source: 1: GBTA; 2. Industry Estimates; 3. ‘Flying high, 92 per cent millennials look forward to their next business-trip’, Economic
Times, 2018; 4. FabHotel Consumer Survey 2018; 5. ‘Demystifying the Indian Online Traveller ‘ report 2017; 6. ‘Millennials are
reshaping India’s travel industry’, dated 24th August 2014 published in CNBC

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With a tech savvy and youthful workforce, simplified policies and processes. This can
organisations need to be well equipped to be achieved through a comprehensive travel
address the needs of their employees while programme that aims to fulfil the needs of all
maintaining their business objectives. Ranging the stakeholders involved. The four pillars of
from TMCs, third party vendors, and corporates corporate travel management serve as a strong
to employees, each stakeholder has an important underlying foundation for developing such a
role to play towards creating integrated and programme.

Four pil ars of

Safety Efficiency

Rise in disruptions such as natural disasters, The cost of business travel is the
political unrest, etc. have created a need for second highest operational cost for most
organisations to have a comprehensive and organisations. It is becoming imperative for
structured safety programmes to ensure well- corporates to drive higher levels of efficiency
being of business travellers. With growth in in their managed travel.
women in the workforce, appropriate travel
policies need to be in place to ensure their
safety.

of female business travellers of companies spend INR 10

71% believe that they face greater 31% million or above on travel10
safety risks7

of all employees have security of travel managers plan to

75% concerns when travelling 21% integrate sharing economy
domestically8 options11

of organisations want more cost reduction for

45% support from their travel 60% organisations using
partners9 advanced booking tools12

Organisations need to take a proactive To optimize costs, companies need to

approach to safety and be prepared for analyse expenses from all perspectives:
emergencies at all times. Through a TMC front-end, back end and travel costs.
partner, all potential risks can be monitored Leveraging automated tools and platforms,
thoroughly, and employees and travel corporate cards and forex cards present a
managers alike can be well-informed of any huge opportunity for driving cost efficiency
security risk while travelling on business. by increasing savings and providing better
visibility of travel spends.

Source: 7. ‘Women in Business Travel 2016’, Maiden Voyage; 8. 75 percent of Indian business travellers have security concerns
regarding domestic travel’, dated 9th October 2018 published in NewsBaron; 9. ACTE-GBT Survey 2017; 10. Yatra Investor
Presentation November 2018, KPMG Analysis; 11. PhocusWire report “What the sharing economy’s success means for your travel
business” 2017 12. ‘Travel and Expense Management Report’ 2016, Paystream Advisors Inc

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Companies and their travel partners must emerging technologies and evolving employee
collaborate to develop tools, polices and needs.
process suited to the needs of the Indian
millennial business travellers such as self Hence, a successful interplay of these pillars
booking tool, etc. is key to fruitfully manage a corporate’s travel
management programme in the long run.
These policies and processes need to be
continuously re-evaluated to incorporate

successful travel management

Productivity Transparency

To maximise the objective of a business Transparency with respect to supplier

trip, employees need to feel relaxed and management (flow of incentives &
refreshed, at all stages of travel. This allows commissions), data management (analytics &
them to focus solely on their work, leading to security) and traveller satisfaction is essential
improved performance. to create a successful travel management
programme.
of travellers feel that the
87% quality of their business Many-to-many interactions
travel impacts their business in the travel ecosystem with
results13 no visibility on incentives &
commissions
of employees prefer to book
Lack of processes to balance
flights through advanced
85% booking tools or mobile
choice and control, in a risk
free manner
applications14
Lack of transparency
increase in company in demand and supply
productivity through
32% policies that account for
management in the travel
ecosystem
travel stress15

Companies and their travel partners Maintaining transparency in the travel process
need to streamline the travel process to and ecosystem enables companies to isolate
allow employees to focus on their work leakages (expense and data) and identify
performance. Organisations should ensure any gaps existing in their managed travel
that proper systems are in place for a programme. Thus, by highlighting strengths to
seamless employee travel experience to be leveraged as well as gaps to be addressed,
improve performance. maximum value can be derived from all travel
partners.

Source: 13. ‘Business travel impacts overall job satisfaction’, November 2017, Yourstory 14. ‘Better Business, Smarter Travel’, 2018,
Amadeus 15. ‘Hidden Cost of Business Travel’, 2014, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

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 Corporate Travel
Market Overview

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Travel and tourism is an important sector as Figure 1: Global Travel Market
it makes a significant contribution to jobs and
Business vs Leisure Spending 2017*
global trade. The contribution of this sector to
GDP was 10.4% of total GDP (~USD 8 trillion)
in 2017, and is estimated to have risen by 4%
in 2018. It is projected to rise at a rate of 3.8% 22.5%
per annum, from 2018-2028, to reach 11.7%
of total GDP in 20281.

Global Corporate Travel Market

Business travel spending generated 22.5% of

direct* travel and tourism GDP in 2017. It is 77.5%
expected to grow by 7.1% in 2018 to reach
USD 1.4 trillion and further expand to USD 1.7
trillion in 20222.

This growth is being experienced post an era Leisure Spend Business Spend
of uncertainty in business travel spending.
Source: WTTC
Early 2000s witnessed an upswing in business
travel expenditure but the great recession of
2008 saw many companies cutting their travel
Global Business Travel Spend USD Trillion
expenses. This period witnessed erratically
changing travel spends by businesses.
Between 2010 and 2016 there was moderate
growth in business travel spending, which
was roughly in the rage 3-5% annually2.

Business travel spend has now been able to

reach the pre-recession levels and it seems
1.70
to have embarked on an unprecedented
growth trajectory in recent years. This has 1.42
1.33
predominantly been driven by strong growth 1.26
in emerging markets and modest growth in
North America and Europe.

The two-year period of 2017-2018 is estimated

to be the strongest for business travel since
the initial recovery from the Great Recession
in 2010 and 2011. In 2018, eighteen out of
the top twenty business travel markets are
expected to outpace their growth average 2016 2017 2018E 2022E
of the past five years. On an average, global Source: GBTA
business travel is projected to expand by 5.2%
over the next five years2.

*The direct contribution reflects the ‘internal’ spending on Travel & Tourism (total spending within a particular country by residents
and non-residents for business and leisure purposes) as well as government ‘individual’ spending - spending by government on
services directly linked to visitors, such as cultural (e.g. museums) or recreational (e.g. national parks).

Source: 1: World Travel & Tourism Council – Economic Impact 2018 World, 2. GBTA

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 Figure 2: Business Travel Timeline Figure 3: Market
Compound Annual Growth in Spending By Period Concentration

The 2000s Concentrated

20% Business Travel Spending :
+10%

15%

10%

5%

0%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

-5% The Era of Uncertainty

Business Travel Spending : -5%

-10%
The Great Recession
Business Travel Spending : -8% Fragmented
-15%
Early 2000s Recession + 9/11
Business Travel Spending : -11%

Source: Industry Reports, GBTA 

However, a variety of headwinds

might stifle growth in the coming
years. Travellers in Asia will witness
an increase in costs incurred due to a
lack of hotel supply. The uncertainty
surrounding Brexit will likely reduce
traveller spending in Europe.

Global trade is a key driver for corporate

travel and has grown in tandem with
global economy. However, the rise
of protectionist policies and stoking
trade wars pose one of the key risks
hampering recovery of global economy.

The global business travel market is

highly fragmented. It is marked by the
presence of a large number of small
scale vendors. FCM Travel Solutions,
American Express Global Business
Travel, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, BCD
Travel, are some of the top travel
management companies, globally3.

Source: 2. GBTA, 3. World Travel Awards

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Changing World Dynamics

Classifying the world’s major business travel South Asia is expected to be the fastest-growing
markets into segments reveals an impending world region over the next ten by years, with
shift in the dynamics of the global travel market. average annual direct T&T GDP growth of 6.9%
The Stalwarts constitute close to half of the forecast, driven principally by strong growth in
global business travel spending market and India (7.1%). In China, long term annual average
comprise many of the world’s major economies. growth of 6.7% is predicted. North East Asia
India, China and Indonesia (ICI), which were overall is forecast to grow by an annual average
once considered emerging markets, now form of 5.6% per year, just ahead of South East
their own segment and continue to grow at an Asia (5.5%). The next tier of sub-regions, with
extremely rapid pace. It is estimated that by growth in the 3-5% bracket include Sub-Saharan
gaining USD 164 billion in annual spend by 2022, Africa (4.4%), the Middle East (4.2%), Central
ICI segment will pick up ground on the Stalwarts Asia (4.2%), North Africa (3.6%), the Caribbean
over the next five years. This segment is (3.6%), Latin America (3.2%) and Oceania
projected to be the largest in the world by 20354. (3.0%). Slower, yet robust growth is expected in
North America (2.6%) and Europe (2.4%)5.

Figure 4: Region Wise Business travel Market Opportunity

United Kingdoms Belgium

Netherlands Sweden
High

Japan Portugal
South Korea Ireland
STALWARTS MIDSIZE MATURE
Spain Switzerland
United States 2017 – USD 678 Bn Austria
‘17 – USD 72 Bn
Germany Norway
Market Maturity

Canada 2022 – USD 826 Bn ‘22 – USD 93 Bn South Africa

Italy Denmark
Australia ICI segment is
Moderate

France
expected to be
the largest in the
Turkey
Malaysia ICI world by 2025
BR Thailand EMERGING
‘17 – USD 401 Bn
Brazil ’17: $ 50 Bn Poland ’17: $ 561 Bn
Russia Singapore ’22: $ 735 Bn ‘22 – USD 565 Bn
’22: $ 58 Bn
Mexico
Czech Republic
Vietnam India
Low

China
Indonesia
Low Moderate High

Market Opportunity
Source: Industry Reports, GBTA

Source: 4. GBTA; 5. WTTC; 6. GBTA

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Indian Corporate Travel Market Figure 5: India Business Travel Spend USD
Billion
The total market for business travel in India has
grown from USD 26 billion in 20146 to USD 37 46.0
billion in 20177, with a projected annual growth 41.3
rate of 11.5%6 and projected spend of up to USD 37.0
46 billion in 20197. 33.6
30.3
In the past year, rise in annual growth of business
travel spend for India has been the highest
among the top 15 business travel markets
globally. Consequently, India surpassed South
Korea to reach 7th position in the top 15 business
travel markets (by spend) globally and is projected
to be in the top 5 by 20226. It is forecasted to be
one of the fastest growing markets over the next
2015 2016 2017 2018E 2019E
five years, growing at the rate of 12.5%6 over the
forecasted period.
has been growing at a rate of 15–20% annually.
India is also witnessing a rise in MICE (meetings,
A MICE traveller, on an average, spends 150%
incentives, conventions and exhibitions) tourism
more than an inbound leisure traveller during a
and has moved up to occupy the 31st position in
four-day stay9 thus presenting a large opportunity
2017 from 35th rank in 2014 globally8. The current
that can be tapped into. The Government of
size of MICE sector in India is estimated to be
India (GoI) aims to capture up to 2% of the global
USD 1.5 billion (0.5% of global MICE market) and
MICE market share by 20258.

Figure 6: Top 15 Business Travel Market (Growth Rate)

26%

21% Russia

16%
India Brazil
Growth Rate

South
11%
Korea
China Germany Spain
Canada
6% France Italy
United Australia
Netherlands
States Japan UK
1%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Country Index Number
-4%

Source: GBTA
Note: Size of bubble indicates Business Travel Spend (2017)

Business travel in India is witnessing Moreover, the Indian airline industry is growing at
unprecedented growth due to a stable economy, a fast rate as demand for travel is being bolstered
growing number of SMEs (small and medium by favorable government policies, growing
enterprises), growth of regional low cost carriers affluence, increased trade, and a maturing
and a policy push for travel and tourism sector. transportation infrastructure. International
The GoI has also initiated various measures, departures for business purposes are expected
including the regional air connectivity scheme to increase by about 5.4% from over 157 million
UDAN, to bolster the overall travel sector.
Source: 6. GBTA; 7. Industry Estimates, KPMG Analysis; 8. International Congress and Convention Association; 9. “MICE sector on a
rise in India” dated 26th October, 2017 published in Indian Express

14
in 2017 to reach ~166 million in 201810. Increased Figure 7: Corporate Travel Market – Type of
connectivity through low cost carriers has also Player (%) 2017
helped in increasing the number of people Large
travelling for business. TMCs, 10%

With business travel now being considered as

an important aspect of the overall growth of any
corporate/business, the average spending of a
corporation for its travel needs has increased
Supplier
significantly over the past decade. For most Direct, 30%
organisations, travel and expense spending is Small Travel
now the second largest operational expense after Agents, 60%

payroll.

The small-and-medium-sized companies have

also begun to realize the importance of corporate
travel for the growth of their business. Out of the Source: Yatra Investor Presentation November 2018
total business travel market in India, ~$7 billion11 benefits that a TMC partner offers corporate
comes from flights and hotels of corporate houses. They are also helping corporates in
SMEs. shifting their traditionally offline processes like
travel policies, approval matrices, expense
Role of TMCs
management etc. online. This shift to digital
Business travel often involves unplanned travel process will increase visibility into travel spends
including last minute air tickets, hotel bookings. and trends, enabling comprehensive MIS
Without the services of a TMC, these can be reporting.
hard to pull together on short notice. Frequent
Business travel management market in India
modification/ cancellation of flights can add to
is highly fragmented. ~10%12 of this market is
the already enormous travel costs of a company.
controlled by global TMCs which primarily serve
The corporate travel management companies
large corporates. Thomas Cook, FCM Travel
have the ability to streamline a corporate’s
Solutions, American Express Global, Carlson
travel by deploying user-friendly integrated
Wagonlit Travel, BCD Travel are some of the key
solutions like digitized approval workflows and
large TMCs operating in the Indian market.
reporting system. They assist in optimizing
planning, approval and booking processes. Free Leading TMCs and OTAs have also developed
modifications for flights and hotels, reduced dedicated programs to cater to SMEs, such as
cancellation charges, complimentary in-flight ‘FCM Corporate Traveller’, MakeMyTrip MyBiz,
meals and seat selection, are some of the other etc.

Source: 10: Report “The Changing Nature of Business Travel: Analysis of key trends and business opportunities for the industry”
dated 9th April, 2018; 11. “On a new flight: Online travel agencies want to travel far with India’s SMEs” dated 24th August, 2018
published in Economic Times; 12. Yatra Investor Presentation November 2018

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 Growth Drivers for Business Travel in India
TECH FIRMS DRIVING OUTBOUND BUSINESS TRAVEL

India has expanded from traditional outsourcing to advanced technology and

product development, alongside many other areas of business. Thus, the
top international destinations for India’s business travellers are driven largely
by the technology sector, with tech travel flows now stronger than those of
financial services.

RISE OF STARTUPs & SMEs

The rise in corporate travel can also be attributed to a parallel rise of the start-
ups in the country. Growing expansion of organisations, rising income levels
and the growing need to network are driving business travel further.

RISE OF SHARED ECONOMY SERVICES

Sharing economy services such as Ola, Uber, OYO, Airbnb have introduced
services that are more efficient, economic and convenient than traditional
service providers. Companies are exploring this market to reduce costs and
increase productivity.

TECH ENHANCED TRAVEL

Corporates are now taking to new travel tools that drive savings, efficiencies,
compliance and traveller safety. Travel booking tools are solving issues of
multiple bookings from different vendors, reimbursement etc. by deploying
technology. They are also driving efficiencies by minimizing the amount of
time employees spend in travel management.

BLEISURE

The average length of stay for business destinations that was 2.5 days some
years ago is now 4 days13, which is indicative of how business travellers are
extending their stay to explore various places around their work destination,
thereby mixing work and leisure.

Source: 13. Euromonitor and KPMG Analysis

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 Challenges for Business Travel in India
Traveller Safety Rising Hotel Costs Data Security

Extreme weather events, Hotel room occupancy across Travel businesses are
terrorism, racial tensions, the country has recorded a responsible for vast amounts
escalating geopolitical rhetoric nine-year high in FY18, touching of traveller information. As data
along with increase in number 67%14. passes from corporate client
of solo women travellers to TMC and onto suppliers and
is making traveller safety This strong upswing in intermediaries - many of whom
the foremost concern for occupancy level is expected to have storage centers – ensuring
corporates today. increase average room rates data security is becoming a
significantly in the coming challenge.
years.

Correlation Between Global Trade Volume and Business Travel Spend

The potential for trade wars is the biggest

challenge being faced by global business
travel. Imposition of increased tariffs and
associated retaliatory measures could
severely impact the global economy
and the global business travel market in
tandem. An analysis of the mathematical
correlation between the two shows that
nearly 60%15 of the variability in global
business travel spend can be explained
Trade Volume Global BTS by global trade volumes.

Rise of Terrorism
With rise in political unrest and terrorism around the globe, businesses need to take into account the
safety of their employees who travel for business. According to a survey ~56% of corporate buyers16
have witnessed an increase in the number of business travellers reporting heightened personal
safety concerns and a quarter witnessed more requests for security training in the last six months.

Source: 14. “Hoteliers see room rates growing to highest level in a decade” dated 10th April, 2018 published in Live Mint; 15. GBTA;
16. A survey of 236 corporate travel buyers, commissioned by American Express Global Business Travel

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 The discerning
business traveller

18
Millennials* are expected to account for almost The advent of a millennial workforce amplifies
half the global workforce by 202017. Over 50% the need for employers to understand the
of India’s population is under the age of 25, with expectations, and habits of the next generation
more than 65% below 35 years. Thus, India has of employees. This is crucial for attracting and
one of the youngest workforce in the world. By retaining talent.
2021, 64% of the total Indian workforce will be
below the age of 3518. With rapid globalization and technological
advances, corporate travel is witnessing
These millennials are intrinsically tech-savvy, an upswing. There is an increased need for
socially and environmentally responsible, and businesses to travel in order to maintain their
nearly twice as likely to want more business business relationships, expand them and deliver
related travel than previous generations. They enhanced customer experiences. Business
desire to experience the world and are enabled travellers, in turn, are motivated by personal
by rising disposable income levels, a connected ambition and desire for recognition. They also see
and globalized workforce and are influenced by it as an opportunity to grow both personally and
social media. This is leading to emergence of professionally. When they travel, they are looking
trends such as bleisure, value driven and mobile for convenience, comfort and connectivity to stay
friendly business travellers, and an increase in productive. Almost 60% of Indian millennials
women travellers. consider travelling for business an upward
movement in life19.

Figure 8: Benefits of business travel to employees

say business travel helps

feel motivated to get them to communicate
90% more work done when 95% successfully with
travelling for business different types of people

view business
say they are likely to
travel as a time
feel relaxed about
84% having some alone
91% to re-energise,
professionally and
time on the road 
personally

say business travel

use shortcuts learned
has taught them skills
on business travel
90% they can use to solve 76% when planning their
challenges in their
personal vacations
personal life

Source: Hyatt Place Business Traveller Survey, September 2018**

*Refers to people born between 1985 and 2000

** This survey consisted of more than 1300 business travellers across India, US and China

Source:  17. ‘Trends on Business Travel’s Biggest Generation: Millennials’, American Express GBT, 2017; 18. ‘By 2020, India will
have the largest young workforce’, dated 12th March, 2016 published in Times of India; 19. ‘Flying high, 92 per cent millennials look
forward to their next business-trip’, dated 10th September, 2018 published in Economic Times

19
Combining business with leisure Figure 9: Leisure time during business travel

The modern work place is becoming more

adaptable and flexible in nature. With corporates
increasingly adopting ‘work from home’ policies
and flexible working hours, the line between
want to experience
personal and professional lives is blurring. something new while
Millennials have embraced this flexibility and 75% travelling
freedom, especially with respect to travel
and often extend their business trips to include
leisure days or experiences. 45% like to carry their favorite
books while on the go

Bleisure is a commonly used term for when

employees combine their business trips spend their leisure time in
with leisure activities. Corporate houses are 46% exploring the destination
increasingly allowing flexibility in business trips
to adapt to this rising trend. Thus, there has been
a significant increase in number of bleisure trips, carry their work-out gear with
both domestically and internationally. 55% of 22% them while travelling

millennial travellers20 are willing to extend a trip

for personal reasons. Younger travellers, aged 20 Source FabHotel Consumer Survey 2018*
to 2521, are most likely to merge their business
and leisure trips. These travellers tend to take These travellers often tend to extend their
one or two such trips a year, regardless of the business trip over a weekend to relax.
demographic segment or travel frequency.
92% of millennials nowadays eagerly look
Destinations with longer flights tend to have forward to their next business trip22 and it is a
a higher likelihood for bleisure. Financial and coveted business perk in India. To ensure this
industrial hubs such as Singapore, Malaysia, trend has a positive impact, both employer and
Dubai, Hong Kong, Turkey and London are employee must be able to clearly articulate
growing in popularity as bleisure destinations. where their respective responsibilities lie with
Domestic destinations popular for such trips are respect to policy and insurance. Providing such
Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore as well as Kochi. flexibility and potential downtime to employees
These locations typically offer excellent leisure results in them being more productive, engaged
facilities like top of the line restaurants, theatres, and loyal in the long term. According to GBTA
shopping opportunities, theme parks, etc. Business Traveller Sentiment Index 2015, top
Senior executives of companies are sometimes talent often make career decisions around
accompanied by their spouses/ families for companies that offer flexible and favourable
business trips to such locations. travel policies.

** This survey consisted of more than 5000 business travellers across India
Source:  20. ‘Trends on Business Travel’s Biggest Generation: Millennials’, American Express GBT; 21. ‘Rising trend of bleisure
trips gives boost to travel industry’, dated 4th January, 2018 published in Outlook India; 22. ‘Flying high, 92 per cent millennials look
forward to their next business-trip’, dated 10th September, 2018 published in Economic Times

20
Value for Money

From a corporate perspective, providing A survey of 1,650 travellers found that 74%
employees with some flexibility and freedom to of millennial business travellers had stayed in
make their own business travel choices, within vacation rentals like Airbnb. Additionally, 44%
specific parameters, can be beneficial. By pre- of the millennial travellers surveyed prefer
negotiating rates with a variety of airlines and staying in these types of sharing-economy
hotels, there is greater scope for employees to accommodations25.
select the option that best suits their needs while
complying with company policy. Thus, travel managers all over the world are
beginning to consider integrating sharing
Millennials have a passion for unique experiences economy companies like Oyo into corporate
and are not confined to traditional transport travel programmes. Leading TMCs have already
and accommodation options. With the evolving initiated partnerships with such platforms.
landscape of the travel hospitality industry,
options beyond traditional hotels have caught the With the help of TMCs, corporates can further
attention of corporates and business travellers. evolve their travel policies and offer their
This love for value and freedom of choice are two travellers the ability to book their preferred
of the main drivers behind the growth of shared accommodations. However, there are many
economy services. concerns around safety and security, cost,
licensing and taxes, employment practices, and
A recent survey showed that travellers make data security that need to be addressed before
informed decisions about their trips, with 91% such platforms are incorporated into corporate
of them using review sites and 85% using price travel programmes.
comparison sites23. This highlights the fact that
travellers not only want varied experiences but
are also looking for ‘value for money’. Thus,
exploring sharing-economy services appeals to
them.

The rise of sharing economy platforms

such as Oyo, Airbnb, Ola, Uber, etc.
benefits employees and organisations
alike. They enable organisations to be
more cost efficient, have access
to a range of options and better
locations. For business travellers,
they help to satiate their craving
for unique experiences while
fulfilling their need for comfort.

Since its launch in 2008, Airbnb

has hosted more than 100
million guest arrivals worldwide,
with business travellers
accounting for 10% of all
bookings24. This is largely
driven by travellers seeking
accommodations that allow
them to experience cities
and neighborhoods they visit.

Source: 23. ‘The Indian Digital Traveller Research’ report, November 2017, Travelport; 24. AirBnB website; 25. ‘Trends on Business
Travel’s Biggest Generation: Millennials’, American Express Global Business Travel

21
 Figure 10: TMC partnership with Airbnb*

The Airbnb Airbnb for Business gives business travellers access to more than two million
homes around the world, and the ability to explore a city like a local
advantage

Direct
TMC refers an employee to Airbnb, who can then book accommodation Booking
directly on Airbnb.com with a corporate email address
on Airbnb

Integration TMC and Airbnb will integrate Airbnb booking information into TMC’s reporting
platform so that customers and TMCs can easily track their bookings
of platforms
Reservation details for each business trip will automatically be shared with the
TMC

Information will be available on TMC’s corporate reporting and Duty of Care Access to
platforms for travel managers information
Travellers will be able to view their bookings from their regular corporate itinerary
and on mobile

Source: KPMG Analysis

*Partnership with Airbnb is cost effective in a global scenario. However, in India, local sharing economy service providers such as
OYO are better suited for maximum comfort and savings for companies

Mobile Friendly

The overall Indian travel market is expected to This is a clear indicator of the growing number
reach USD 48 Bn by 2020. Online bookings are of digital touchpoints in various phases of a
estimated to account for around 40%-50% of the business and leisure travellers journey. A travel
total transactions by 202026.  With the increase consumer spends close to 49 minutes, visiting as
in smartphone penetration and digital payments many as 17 different online touchpoints to plan,
usage, India’s online hotel market is estimated to research, and make a booking26. Indian business
be growing at a CAGR of 25% to reach USD 4 Bn travellers use 20 different categories of apps
by 2020 (from 2015). By 2020, one in three hotel throughout their trip27.
rooms will be booked online26.

Figure 11: Indian business traveller’s use of apps27

Map and Banking apps

93%
Destination Instant
messaging
guides
86% 91% and video
tools

Social media
Travel reviews
84% 92%

Source: Travelport survey of 11,000 travelers in 19 countries

Source: 26. ‘Demystifying the Indian Online traveller‘ report, June 2017; 27. Independent study by Travelport, May 2018

22
The business travel industry lags behind leisure Hence, providing a seamless and mobile friendly
travel in terms of mobile booking technology. travel experience in a business ecosystem,
However, due to higher volumes of millennial can help improve an employee’s overall travel
travellers, there is a growing demand for mobile experience.
capabilities in business travel. These travellers
prefer to research and book both flights and Business and leisure travellers alike are
accommodations on mobile. When booking a trip demanding greater omni-channel support
themselves, 60% of India’s millennial business throughout their travel journey. This presents a
travellers do so online through their desktop or significant opportunity for travel management
laptop, with 47% of them booking through their companies, as well as other businesses that
smartphones28. support them. Such companies need to provide
digital processes and support to enhance their
Millennial travellers rely on technology for the customer’s experience.
entire travel booking process – from online
reviews to mobile booking and check-in to staying Travellers today want relevant and timely content
connected with colleagues in a new city. Majority at their fingertips. The shifting trends among
of travellers prefer online methods of research Indian business travellers, before and during their
as it provides greater information, occasionally journeys, is pushing the business travel industry
better deals and higher level of convenience29. to adapt continually to provide responsive,
relevant and timely services for customers.

Figure 12: Generation wise traveller concerns29

Millennial Gen X2 Baby Boomer

Concern Business Business Business
traveller traveller traveller

Unable to access booking information on

47% 40% 37%
their devices 24/7

Companies don’t use analytics to provide

56% 43% 41%
personalized travel
Ability to extend business trip for leisure 72% 44%

Source:28. Independent study by Travelport, May 2018; 29. ‘Demystifying the Indian Online traveller ‘ report, June 2017

23
 Women in Business Travel
Currently, women account for approximately Initiatives such as employee tracking when women
30% of the economically active workforce take cabs, priority flight bookings, pocket guides
and nearly 25% of domestic business with information for employee safety need to
travellers. This number is expected to rise as become more common to create a safe working
women account for 41.6% of those enrolled environment for women. The hotel industry, starting
in higher education and are entering high with ITC Hotels, was the first in the travel value
level positions in the professional hierarchy. chain to recognize the importance of safety for the
independent woman travellers and hence introduced
As the number of women in business travel women only floors.
increases, the industry will have to adapt to
cater to this trend. In order to ensure safety Other hotels across India that have taken such
of women travellers, certain adjustments measures for their women guests include the Leela
will have to be made across all stages of Palace, New Delhi, which has a women-only floor
travel such as cab booking, flights, hotels, called Kamal, the Hyatt Regency Chennai which
etc. has women-only bar and the iconic Imperial Hotel,
New Delhi, which has a 12-room wing called Eliza
specifically for women-only travellers. 

ITC Hotels

• Eva rooms that are exclusively for women

• Videophone for additional screening of visitors, restricted entry by key cards
• Women-only staff on all their Eva floors

Lemon Tree Premier Hotels

• In addition to its Business rooms and Executive suites, Lemon Tree provides
women-only floor for its female guests

Taj Hotels

• Exclusive women-only rooms and floors

• Single women travellers get rooms near the elevator, each room being
equipped with a video phone
• Dedicated female concierge, a women-only housekeeping staff and a “for
your care” kit comprising women’s personal products in the room

Oberoi Hotels

• Women-only rooms and floors

• Lady chauffeurs and women guides for sightseeing

Source: ‘Millennials are reshaping India’s travel industry’, dated 24th August 2014 published in CNBC; Company websites

24
Four Pil ars of Corporate
Travel Management

25
Corporate travel management refers to the For travel and procurement managers, it centers
strategic management of a company’s approach around advising them on how to optimize their
to travel. This includes vendor negotiations, business travel programme, through in depth
daily operation of business’s corporate travel analysis of travel spends and traveller behavior.
programme, safety and security in the sky and on
ground, travel-related expenses and appropriate For senior executives, it ensures that the
credit-card management. corporate travel programme supports company
objectives, by allowing them to focus on their
A comprehensive travel management programme core business.
aims to integrate and fulfil the needs of various
stakeholders. While travel management There are four key pillars that sustain a good
companies (TMCs) can provide the basic day-to- travel management programme; ensuring safety
day travel services to corporates, there are other of employees, increasing cost effectiveness
aspects that also need to be accounted for. of the programme, increasing productivity of
employees while travelling for business and
For employees, it plays a role in keeping them increasing transparency within the programme.
safe and productive while travelling on business, Going forward, each of these pillars should be
and equipping them to make necessary choices considered while selecting a TMC, instead on
through assimilation of relevant information. focusing solely on price.

Figure 13: Successful Corporate Travel Management

Safety

Efficiency

Productivity

Transparency

Successful Corporate Travel

Management programme
Source: KPMG Analysis

26
 Basing the selection criteria for TMC partners around the said four pillars can help organisations
to reduce costs and deliver enhanced employee satisfaction.

Steps to selecting a TMC

Detailing the
Identifying key
requirements of Evaluating offers Contract signing
selection criteria
TMC

• Define objective of • Cost/ commercials • Bidding rules • Contract

TMC appointment quoted and weightage to documentation
• Internal survey, • Reputation/ existing respective criteria • Agreement
feedback and client feedback • TMC profiling, on terms and
inputs on travel • Current technology network, conditions
needs, perceptions deployment and • capacity and • Finalizing the
and requirements capabilities capabilities service level
• Technology • Front end and back • Prior experience & agreements
requirements end support expertise • Dispute resolution
• Learnings from • Data analytics • Account mechanism
existing TMC management • Critical success
• Value added
• Travel budgeting services • Quality control factors and
• Monthly MIS quarterly reviews
• Risk management
reports and security • Average contract
review period of 2-4 years

Key Selection Criteria for selecting a TMC

Commercials quoted by the TMC is the
top criteria for selection of a TMC as most
organisations are focused on optimizing
Price costs.

Market Feedback from existing clients of the TMC,

Reputation its network of vendors, hotels, etc. and
scale of operations are key factors that
determine the eligibility of the TMC.
Technical
Capabilities
Many organisations depend on their
TMC for technological tools. Thus, a
Global TMC should have the capability to cater
Presence to an organisation’s technical ambitions
and to anticipate the changes in the
industry.

Organisations with wide spread travel requirements prefer TMCs with a global
presence, to cater to their employees at any location, if needed.

Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India, KPMG Analysis

27
 Safety

28
Ensuring employee safety during business protect employees such as safety briefings,
travel is the top concern for most organisations trainings, pre-trip documents, etc. can instill a
irrespective of the sector they operate in or the sense of security in employees. This may, in turn,
scale of their operations. Rise in business travel result in increased productivity and loyalty among
volumes and disruptions due to numerous factors employees, thereby boosting the business.
such as climatic changes, natural disasters,
terrorist activities, accidents, political unrest, Globally, travel managers struggle to implement
etc. have created a high need for organisations adequate safety precautions for employees.
to have a comprehensive and structured safety In some cases, TMCs provide services such
programme. as insurance and employee tracking to ensure
employee safety. Thus, through their TMC partner,
Companies need to ensure that business companies can ensure that all potential risks are
objectives do not overshadow other important monitored thoroughly, and that employees and
factors such as providing all members of the travel managers alike are well-informed of any
organisation with appropriate security and security risk while travelling on business.
support at all times.
In case of emergencies that require extreme
As the importance of safety in travel gains actions such as hospitalization or evacuations,
momentum, corporate travel managers are most corporates turn to specialized international
well-positioned to fill travel policy gaps, as well organisations for immediate and efficient
as prepare their organisations for future safety response.
challenges. Proactive initiatives to support and

Figure 14: Players involved in ensuring employee safety

Employers

Employees TMCs

International
organisations

Source: KPMG Analysis

29
 Role of corporates in Duty of Care

Duty of Care refers to the moral and legal any corporate travel programme. Under this
obligations of employers towards their programme, employers have the responsibility to
employees, contractors, volunteers, etc. in develop and deploy appropriate travel policies and
maintaining their well-being, security and safety, travel risk management approaches to protect
especially during travel. their employees from possible harm.

This concept has evolved over the years, Every organisation has unique needs when
with an increasing relevance in business it comes to ensuring employee safety
travel. Earlier, safety was a primary concern during travel. These needs depend on factors
only for organisations operating in high risk such as business travel volumes, scale of
industries such energy and shipping. For other operations and destinations of travel, etc. There is
organisations, ‘Duty of Care’ was limited to no one-size-fits-all solution for employee safety.  
managing emergency situations. It now extends
Hence, various tie ups with specialized
beyond this to ensuring safety of employees in all
organisations such as ISOS for medical and
travel scenarios, applicable across small, medium
travel security services, iJet for travel risk
and large enterprises.
management services, and TMCs with robust
As companies expand their businesses and safety features are essential to ensure safety
explore new geographies, ‘Duty of Care’ has requirements of the business are met efficiently.
gradually become a significant component of

Figure 15: Elements of structured Duty of Care programme

Safety trainings Employee tracking

and briefings system

Insurance
Comprehensive
coverage
travel policy

Updated
Travel risk traveller
management information

Emergency
Travel alerts services

24/7 Support Well-defined

itineraries/pre-trip
reports

Source: KPMG Analysis

30
 Figure 16: Action steps to ensure Duty of Care in Travel

For Employers/Travel
For Employees
Management Companies

• Prepare employees • Be aware of all

for all stages of travel policies
travel, from planning before embarking
to return, so that they on the business trip
clearly understand • Have full
what to expect at knowledge
every step and can of necessary
thus take necessary information such as
precautions contact numbers
• Ensure employee before, during and
safety by framing after travel
and communicating • Comply with
the relevant travel prescribed travel
policies polices

Source: KPMG Analysis

Travel Safety concerns of Employees Despite rising security concerns, business

travel volumes have not been affected as 98%
Most organisations have high emphasis on ‘Duty of employees are confident in receiving safety
of Care’ processes, travel risk management support from their employers30. With robust
and technology-enabled safety features for systems and technologies in place to ensure
international business travellers. However, there safety, employers and organisations can assuage
is an equal need to consider the aforementioned the travel centric concerns of employees.
factors for domestic traveller.
Travel Safety concerns of travel managers
Travelling to unfamiliar destinations and tier II/
III cities, even within India can cause uneasiness Over the years, there has been an accelerated
for employees. For example, hotels within the rate of change in business travel. However, the
allocated budget may not be located in a good corresponding change in corporate travel policies
area, leading to safety concerns for employees. has been gradual.

Many travel managers have taken initial steps to

of Indian business introduce or enhance several measures intended
travellers have security to alleviate the anxieties faced by employees
75% concerns when travelling during business travel. Few travel managers have
domestically30 begun leveraging traveller locating technology
and provide proactive safety communication to
employees. Safety training, emergency check-
of Indian business in technology, safety and security services
travellers have security from their travel management company (TMC)
concerns when travelling 77%
and detailed emergency action plans are some
internationally30 additional tools used by most travel managers.
However, travel managers still face some gaps in
the travel management programme.

Source: 30. ‘75 percent of Indian business travellers have security concerns regarding domestic travel’, dated 9th October 2018
published in News Baron

31
 Figure 17: Concerns for travel managers

60% 58% 45% 40% 38%

believe have not want more believe more want to

they deliver tightened support from safety trainings implement
adequate safety travel policies their TMC to are required emergency
communication in response address safety check in
but can to traveller concerns technology
improve concerns

Source: ACTE-GBT Survey 2017, KPMG Analysis

The high cost associated with increased emergencies, ISOS’s highly trained teams step
safety support from TMCs and implementing in to provide global medical assistance and
emergency check-in systems is one of the key additional security measures such as evacuation
hindrances for corporates. Some organisations of travelling employees, etc.
may also lack the required knowledge of
innovative safety products and services available Figure 18: Benefits of International SOS
in the market. 

At times, corporations have their own

independent tie ups with organisations such as
ISOS and iJet for international travel support. This
reduces their dependency on TMCs and provides Assistance Tracking Consulting
an extra layer of safety for employees travelling
internationally.

Firms such as International SOS and iJet

provide travel security solutions and travel risk
management services around the world. They
Staffing Travel Security Medical
assist companies in preparing their workforce for
Services
travel to unfamiliar and remote locations across
Source: Company Website
the globe, and provide training and guidance on
travel risk management to help keep workers Hence, collaboration and discussions between all
healthy and safe. stakeholders, including travel managers, TMCs,
employees and other parties is crucial to mitigate
These organisations are critical when situations
or overcome all challenges that may arise during
require a more active response. In cases of
the course of employee travel.

32
Travel Risk Management To ensure all travel associated risks are covered,
organisations can follow certain principles
A travel risk management programme is a well- or guidelines such GEBIR principles of travel
rehearsed plan that provides Duty of Care to risk management. With the right travel risk
employees. Various situations can arise while management solutions and travel security
employees are on their business trip, ranging services in place, an employer’s ability to uphold
from natural disasters to civic unrest. A robust their Duty of Care can become much easier.
travel risk management programme properly
equips employees to handle such situations and Figure 20: GEBIR Principles of Travel Risk
complete their travel safely. It does not eliminate Management
risks, it highlights them and mitigates them to
some extent. Provide a user friendly, up to Ground
date document of risks and Truth
For an effective travel safety course, all aspects relevant information on the
of travel risks, how to mitigate them, and how to travel destination
react if they do happen must be understood by
employers and conveyed to all employees. Provide all employees the
Education tools and knowledge to
minimize and mitigate travel
Figure 19- Steps for Travel Risk Management
risk through safety trainings

Evaluate the risks of travel Ensure that the employee is

fully aware and conversant Briefings
with the environment they
are travelling to
Mitigate risks where possible
Provide necessary auxiliary
In-Country support such as ground
Support transport to avoid accidents
Assess how to insure against risks on the roads

Pre-identify risks to
ensure timely response Response
‘Go ahead’ or choose another plan to emergencies through
communication, crisis
management and evacuation
drills

33
 Women’s Safety in Corporate Travel

As the number of women travellers in business increases, there are certain necessary adjustments
that need to be made to travel policies, in terms of safety, to accommodate to their needs. Currently,
71% of female business travellers believe that they face greater safety risks than their male
counterparts. With these growing safety concerns, corporates travel mangers need to revamp travel
policies and take significant steps to ensure women’s safety in business travel.

Safety concerns of women business travellers

79% 77% 75% 73% 70%

say their say suppliers say their say travel

claim they are company’s with special experiences providers
under-prepared travel attention to of travel need to try
to deal with programmes the needs providers harder to
the incidents should take of female affects address their
account of travellers their policy needs
they encounter
their specific should be compliance
gender prioritized
needs

Policies to ensure women’s safety in business travel

Earlier flight Security 20% higher

options escort for late budget for Priority drop
night travel hotel and pick up

Pocket
Travel with
Women guide with
registered
only necessary
vendors
floors information
only

Source: ‘Women in Business Travel 2016’, Maiden Voyage; Industry Interactions by KPMG in India

34
 Voices of the industry

We have to travel to all sorts

We have specific women safety
of locations to deliver services
policy that includes calling them
but employee safety is our top
to ensure they are safe when they
priority and hence, we have to
travelling late at night or alone.
occasionally refuse travel to some
places with high risk of terrorist
activities.
- General Manger
at a leading FMCG company - Head of Finance
at a leading healthcare service
provider

We have a tie up with ISOS

for international travel and
we leverage our own pan
We provide a pre-departure
India presence for domestic
checklist to all employees,
situations.
along with travel information
on the destination.
- Head of Admin
at a leading equipment
- Head of Admin
manufacturer
at a leading telecom service
provider

We leverage our own pan-India We recommend that our

presence to ensure employee employees stay in our guest
safety, instead of tie-ups. houses or hotels that we have tie-
ups with in order to ensure good
quality and safety.
- Head of Admin
at a leading telecom service
provider - Head of Admin
at a leading appliance manufacturer

35
 Efficiency

36
Indian business travel market is highly The cost incurred while travelling for business
fragmented, with ~70% of corporates spending is the second highest operational cost for most
less than INR 10 million31. IT companies have organisations. Business travel is central to both
the highest share amongst those spending more maintaining business as well as expanding it
than INR 10 million followed by engineering and and due to rising cost of travel, it is becoming
pharmaceutical companies. IT, BPO/ITeS and imperative for corporates to drive higher levels of
pharmaceutical industries have higher travel efficiency in their managed travel programme.
spends as a percentage of their revenue.

Figure 21: Corporate Travel Market – Travel Spend >INR 10 million

~INR 2,486 Billion ~INR 752 Billion

(~USD 37 Bn) (~USD 11 Bn)

Highly 28%
Fragmented
28% Market
9%
8%
1% 6%
5%
4%
2% 4%
1% 3%
69% 32%

Others 2017
Telecom BPO/ITES
2017
Rest of the market <10 mil
Auto Finance Energy
10-30 mil 30-50 mil
Pharma Engineering IT
>50 mil

Figure 22: Industry-wise Travel Spend (as % of revenue)

3.1% BPO/ITeS
IT 3.0%
1.9% Pharma
Engineering 1.1%
0.6% Automobile
Telecom 0.6%
0.4% Finance
Energy 0.2%
0.6% Others
Source: Yatra Investor Presentation November 2018
Source: 31. Yatra Investor Presentation November 2018

37
The cost of travel for an organisation Back end costs – costs associated with invoicing
encompasses much more than just the cost of air and expense processing, management and
tickets. To account for the total financial impact, reporting, and possibly litigation costs.
organisations need to consider all the costs
associated with the procurement, management Foreign exchange spending is another major
and use of travel. These include: cost incurred while travelling internationally –
especially due to the volatility in the exchange
Front end costs - costs surrounding Duty rates.
of Care, travel management administration,
procurement, supplier and contract management There are four main levers that require constant
fees coordinated interaction with each in order to
control the afore mentioned complex travel and
Travel costs and expenses – cost of travel entertainment costs of an organisation:
including ticket purchase, parking fees, lease or
• Procurement
hire costs of vehicles, or maintenance and fuel
costs. Additional costs costs may also come • Billing & payments
from accommodation fees, travel expenses and • Expense reporting
insurance claims
• Management reporting

Figure 23: Levers to control T&E expenses

Travel procurement

Front end • In house v/s outsourcing • Technology platform

costs • TMC appointment process • Vendor agreements
• Certifications and compliance • Value added services

Billing and payments

• Booking tools (online v/s offline) • Corporate liability

• Price controls • Centralised (Bill
• Corporate card programme to Company) v/s
Travel • Foreign Exchange Management
decentralised (Bill to
Card) billing
Costs
Management reporting

• Budgets v/s actual • Periodicity of reporting

• Spend analysis and control • User feedback
• Policy compliance analysis

Expense reporting

Back end • Online v/s offline interface • Escalation matrix

Costs • Corporate liability • Automation

Source: KPMG Analysis

38
Back-end Costs Figure 25 : Expense Management in Indian
Firms
Expense reporting is central to managing back
end costs. This varies from one organisation lack a system to detect travel and
to another and is dependent on the scale of 48% expense management frauds as
operations, amount and nature of business they do it manually
travel involved as well as the sector in which
the company is operational. There are broadly do not have means to retrieve past
55% expense data
five stages of travel and expense management
maturity. Each stage correlates to the life-cycle
stage of a given company. As organisations either partially or entirely lacking
grow, their needs change. Expense management 82% in making the whole T&E process
solutions initially drive efficiency by introducing automated
a certain level of automation but need to be CFOs (chief financial officers) have
ramped up with time. As a company diversifies, understood this urgent need and
adding additional product lines, sales staff, and taken digitisation upon themselves,
geographic operational territories, the business 50% to switch to an automated expense
complexity rises. Hence, there is an increasing management system in the next six
need to utilize analytics in order to drive a months
consistent level of cost efficiency.
Source: Happay survey*
Most Indian corporates identify mobility,
visibility and control as major challenges visibility expense management systems. Having a partner
while managing travel and expenses of their that is driving innovation in the TEM space
employees. Most of these organisations are in enables organisations to focus on what matters
the first two stages of the T&E maturity cycle most — their own revenue-generating business
and are now looking to include technology driven initiatives.

Figure 24: Travel & Expense Management Maturity Cycle

Business Outcome
Predictive TEM software drives smarter
travelling and financial decision making,
enabling organisations to uncover new
Travel &
Expense optimization opportunities
Management
Maturity Stages Extending TEM to include visa, mobile
Intelligent/ roaming, and VAT management makes travel
Predictive Processes
more efficient driving cost efficiency
Increasing automation

Platform Ecosystem
Cloud/ mobile TEM apps deliver an effortless
user experience that increases travel
Mobile/ Cloud Apps
effectiveness and spend visibility, improving
spend efficiency

Automated Travel & Expense Automating through TEM software helps

Management Processes improve accuracy and efficiency

Excel/ Paper Based Small sales teams manually enter expenses,

Expense Reporting tape paper receipts, and forward for signed
approval

Source: Concur, KPMG Analysis

* Over 200 companies covered in the survey included 26% with revenue of over INR 5,000 crore, 17% in the range of INR 2,500-
5,000, 25% in range of INR 1,000 to INR 2,500, 31% in range of INR 250-500 crore and 1% below INR 250 crore revenue

39
Travel expense management process is data Travel Costs & Expenses
heavy. Information flows from different sources –
employee reimbursement, accounts department, Air tickets and lodging form the biggest
vendor invoices, credit card statements, components (86% combined32) of travel
travel desks, etc. Thus automation in expense expenses of companies. Lodging, airlines,
management systems has the ability to reduce and local activities represent the core of the
report processing costs, provide more visibility travel industry, however, ground transportation
into the expense data (spending, compliance including car rental, ride-hailing, etc. is another
rates etc.), derive useful insights through major cost head. Items such as spending for
improved MIS reports and also reduce employee internal meetings, baggage fees, parking, and taxi
reimbursement time. services also contribute significantly to overall
travel expenses. These expenses, if managed
Figure 26: Benefits of Outsourced Expense correctly, could save hundreds of thousands of
Management System dollars per year.

The Indian business travel market is highly

fragmented. Approximately 10% of this market
is controlled by large TMCs or B2B aggregators33
primarily serving large corporates by providing
them complete travel solutions. In the past, the
Indian corporate travel market was characterized
by lengthy manual offline processes. However,
most large corporate houses are now moving
to online booking portals with some of them
launching self booking tools for their employees.
MIS for These tools have in-built functionalities to ensure
Policy System process cycle adherence to travel policy. These businesses look
compliance integration optimization towards their TMC partner to make best prices of
airfares available to their employees.

Most of these business houses, however, also

Identification of Deeper visibility have an internal travel desk that independently
Cost Saving into T&E checks prices of air tickets to ensure their
Opportunities spending TMC/ travel agent is giving them the best price
available.

An important lever for controlling the cost is the

Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India, KPMG Analysis billing structure followed- i.e. centralised billing
(bill to company) vs decentralised billing (bill to
Source: 32. Euromonitor “Intermediaries corporate business sale India”; 33. Yatra Investor Presentation November 2018

40
card). The former is prevalent in the industry Foreign exchange cards hold the potential to not
as of now. However, the latter model seems to only address the aforementioned challenges but
hold greater value for corporates. The bill to card also mitigate the volatility of differential exchange
model effectively increases the credit period rates. They allow travel to multiple destinations
from a week to 30-35 days thereby significantly for longer periods at lower cost.
reducing the working capital requirements. It
also enhances the control that organisations According to FCM Travel Solutions, ~80% of
wield over policy compliance as well as expense forex spend (billed through them) is through
management while also smoothening the forex cards. These can thus be increasingly
booking and reimbursement processes. used by corporates to drive cost efficiencies in
international travel.
Foreign exchange purchased while travelling
internationally is another major cost head for Using cards as a primary mode of payment
corporates. Conventionally, employees carry cash facilitates auto capturing of transactions being
along with their corporate cards while travelling made. The data can thus be used to generate
abroad. However, this practice comes with its customised reports (MIS) and provide higher
own set of challenges. Using corporate cards visibility to corporates around the spending
while travelling abroad adds significant amount of patterns of employees. This in turn enables them
foreign currency mark-up fee, foreign transaction to drive higher level of cost efficiencies.
fee, and cash withdrawal charges thus adding
Business travel is also witnessing a behavioural
to the travel costs. And since there is an upper
shift to shared economy services. These may
limit to the amount of cash one can carry while
redefine the future of lodging and ground
travelling internationally, the additional cost
transportation within the business travel industry.
incurred due to extensive usage of corporate
cards is significant.

41
 Figure 27: Composition of Business Travel 2018

6%

21%

8%
65%

Air Sales Car Rental Sales Air Sales Other Transport Lodging Sales Other Sales
Other Transport Sales Lodging Sales Sales
Other Sales Offline Online

Source: Euromonitor “Intermediaries corporate business sale India”

Ride-hailing and car-sharing platforms have A few organisations have started using shared
completely changed how consumers get around. economy services mainly due to their widespread
Autonomous ride-sharing is emerging as the availability and cost effectiveness. However, one
trend to watch as it will bring about a change to main concern for businesses that are considering
the ground transportation industry already in flux. sharing economy travel options is Duty of Care.
From a business perspective, ensuring that
employees are safe while travelling is the main
of travel managers have planned
priority. When companies employ the services
or implemented a policy in
26% regards to sharing economy
of sharing economy travel options, this becomes
much more complicated as there is a lack of a
ground transportation34
screening process. Thus, a lot of Indian corporate
houses have not widely started using these
lodging shared economy services until they can
of travel managers say that verify the safety aspect of them.
they plan to introduce sharing
21% economy accommodation
options within two years34

The rise of OYO and Airbnb lodging options, has

the potential to drive cost savings for corporates.
Airbnb plans to give some hosts a “business
traveller ready badge.” Earning this badge
means that the accommodation will have Wi-Fi,
workspace, an iron, and also strict cancellation
policies. Thus, making it much easier for business
travellers to identify which accommodations are
suitable for them.

Source: 34. PhocusWire report “What the sharing economy’s success means for your travel business” 2017

42
 Figure 28: Traditional vs Emerging model for vendor management

Traditional model Emerging model

TMC
1

TMC
TMC 2

Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India, KPMG Analysis

Front-end Costs

Cost effectiveness is a major pillar for managed factored into contract negotiations and supplier
corporate travel in India. The major chunk of the measurements.
front end costs involved in the corporate travel
management programme include procurement Large companies with significant travel spends
costs and, supplier and contract management have now started entering into agreements
fees. with airlines and hotels directly. They then pass
on the discount codes to their TMCs. They
Most major Indian corporate houses that have continuously monitor the prices of air tickets and
significant travel spends outsource their travel accommodations from their end to ensure their
management to TMCs. The financials quoted, TMC partner is providing them with the best
airline and hotel tie ups, value added services and prices available. This is not only adding to the
analytics provided by the TMCs are some of the redundancy in managed travel but also increasing
selection criteria for Indian organisations. the cost incurred.

Traditionally, corporates outsourced all the To conclude, corporates need to partner with
services to their respective TMCs which were TMCs who can help them use the four levers
re-evaluated only when a major problem to manage front-end, travel and back-end costs.
was encountered. Nowadays, companies They need to manage these costs simultaneously
have become more aware and continuously in order to drive efficiency in their travel
evaluate their TMC partner on a long list of key programme. If any of these is left unchecked,
performance indicators which include (but are there will be expense leakages and the corporate
not limited to) turn around time, cost savings will not be able to fully optimize the cost of their
delivered, cost per trip, etc. Some companies travel.
are capturing traveller feedback which is

43
 Voices of the industry

We allow our employees to We ensure all travel is essential

book from a variety of preferred and purposeful. We also
accommodation options such as encourage our employees to book
OYO rooms, through our booking their travel in advance. We audit
portal. our travel desk periodically in
order to ensure company issued
- Head of HR guidelines are being followed.
at a leading home appliances
company - Admin Head
leading medical devices company

We have two TMC partners as well

as our own vendor tie-ups. This We optimize travel costs by
allows us to keep a close eye on reducing turn around time for
the travel spends and hence drive ticket booking as prices are
efficiency in our managed travel dynamic. Prices are monitored till
programme. 24 hours before travel to ensure
best fare.
- Senior Manager Admin
leading diversified natural
resources company
- Senior Manager Admin
leading diversified natural
resources company

A little less than half our travel is to

tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Thus options
for flights as well as lodging are Combined packages for MICE
few, making it difficult for us to and private travel should also
optimize our costs. be included, making it easier for
management.
- Admin/HR head
at a leading multiplex chain
- Admin Head CXO
leading consumer electrical
equipment manufacturing
We plan to continually detect our
company
travel volumes and areas with scope
of re-negotiation through analytics
provided by our TMC in order to
optimize our travel costs.

- Manager Admin, at a leading FMCG

company

44
Productivity

45
In the high pressure work environment of today, Figure 29: Key triggers of stress while
approximately 46% of the workforce in India35 travelling
suffers from some form of stress due to various
reasons such as tight deadlines, conflict among
colleagues, long work hours, etc. High stress in
Inconvenient hotel
employees adversely affects their performance. Long flights
locations
This is visible through lower engagement with
their work, decline in productivity and higher
absenteeism levels36.

Travelling for business purposes can expose

employees to variables that are out of their Reimbursement of
Ground transport
control such as flight delays, thereby increasing expenses/ Foreign
issues
the likelihood of stress. exchange

In 2018, it was observed that 87% of travellers37

feel that the quality of their business travel
impacts their business results. For the modern
business traveller, access to certain facilities and Fragmented Transit time
Wi-Fi connectivity are crucial for a successful booking process between flights
business trip. Other factors that cause stress in
a business traveller include long transit times,
hostile work environment while travelling,
inconvenient hotel locations, and meals, among
others. For international travellers, availability of
foreign exchange is a key concern due to the Rigid travel Lack of Wi-Fi
restrictions on the amount of forex that can be policies connectivity
carried. This is especially accurate for long haul
trips that span across multiple destinations. At
times, business travellers also have to carry
multiple currencies for such trips, which can be
stressful. Having a forex travel card can mitigate Number of
Uncertainty of
these concerns to a high degree. meetings at
meals
destination
These stress-inducing elements can lead to
a decrease in productivity for employees by
disturbing their peace of mind and distracting
them from business objectives.
Traveller-focused policies, which take into
To maximize the purpose of a business trip, account the impact of trip-related stress, could
employees need to feel relaxed and refreshed, help companies increase corporate productivity
at all stages of travel. This allows them to by up to 32%38, while also improving traveller
focus solely on their work, leading to improved performance and well-being. Thus, organisations
performance. Over 90% of these travellers37 need to ensure proper systems are in place for a
agreed that business travel impacts their seamless employee travel experience.
overall job satisfaction and performance. This is
especially accurate amongst millennials, who
believe that business and pleasure have to go
together to be productive.

Source: 35. ‘46% of workforce in firms in India suffer from some or the other form of stress’ dated 11th June 2016 published in
Economic Times, 2016; 36. ‘Workplace Stress Leads To Less Productive Employees’ dated 11th September 2014 published in
Forbes; 37. ‘Business travel impacts overall job satisfaction’, dated 24th November 2017 published in Yourstory; 38. ‘Hidden Cost of
Business Travel’, 2014, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

46
 Figure 30: Elements affecting employee However, this leads to many complications for
productivity the employees such as lengthy reimbursement
processes and approvals needed. These time-
consuming process have significant implications
for organisations as well.

Flexible and Integrated Figure 31: Implications of non compliance

employee Booking
friendly travel systems
policies

Advanced On the go Reduced Hindrance to

booking tools access to
information bargaining power Duty of Care
with suppliers obligations

Source: KPMG Analysis, Industry Interactions by KPMG in

India

Role of travel policies

Companies can boost productivity of employees

by developing a travel programme that enhances Skewed analysis Lack of visibility
traveller experience and reduces stress. Policies of traveller data of employee
that allow travellers to extend their business trip location
for some leisure time, can have a positive impact
on employee productivity. Incorporating the
Source: KPMG Analysis, Industry Interactions by KPMG in
growing desire for bleisure trips into a structured India
travel policy can benefit both employees and
organisations. Advanced booking tools

Another major source of stress for employees A quick and efficient booking process can save
is the lack of visibility into the booking process. cost and time. Most TMCs and travel managers
Some organisations do not allow employees to are constantly aiming to reduce turn-around
choose their bookings, due to cost constraints. time of the booking process. However, due to
This leads to high levels of insecurity for the layers of approval needed and the dynamic
employees. Flying at odd hours and staying in nature of air fare, there is a lag between the
inconvenient locations are the most common generation of travel request and when issuing of
outcomes of such rigid travel policies. This may the tickets.
also lead to non-compliance, with employees
booking their own travel to get better deals. The travel booking process is one of the more
time-consuming aspects of travel for employees.
Approximately 66%39 of employees book outside From evaluating the options provided to the
of policy believing that they are saving costs for back and forth communication with the travel
their organisations. desk, the average time spend by employees
on bookings can range from 90 minutes to 2.5
hours40.

Source: 39. ‘66% Of Indian Business Travelers Not Booking Within Policy’ dated 17th May 2018 published in Travel Trends Today;
40. ‘Reinventing Business Travel Report, 2018, Atlas Travel

47
Higher automation can lead to less employee On the go access
time spent on the booking process and higher
productivity levels. Thus, many organisations Indian business travellers have the strongest
have begun implementing advanced booking appetite for digital services in the APAC region42.
tools such as online booking tool and self booking These travellers act as a driving force for services
tool. such as mobile capabilities and on-the-go access
to travel information. With growing reliance on
Figure 32: Benefits of Advanced Booking Tools technology in everyday life, the same level of
connectivity and ease of access is excepted
Visibility of
1 available
when it comes to business travel.
options
of Indian business travellers
No additional
approvals
2 85% prefer digital processing for
flights, through online or
needed mobile tools

3 Incorporated
budgeted of Indian business travellers
restraints prefer digital processing for
64% hotels, through online or
Streamlined
booking 4 mobile tools
process
Some companies have attempted to simplify this
Source: KPMG Analysis process by granting access to travel expense
mobile applications that allow employees to
By allowing employees to book their own travel, record expenses with ease. However, there is
in a pre-approved and policy compliant manner, significant room for improvement.
the turn-around time for booking can reduce
significantly.

One of the key innovations in this domain is

the Self Booking Tool (SBT). This tool serves as
an integrated user friendly travel management
system. It can enable reduction in travel costs,
and enhance compliance and decision making
with minimal management oversight. Through
integration with travel service options through
the global distribution system (GDS), allowing
employees to select their travel preferences
and make bookings. These bookings are
automatically checked for policy compliance
and then, the details are auto updated in the
corporate MIS. With SBT, companies can reduce
travel processing costs by 60-70%41.
Source: 41. ‘Travel and Expense Management Report’ 2016, Paystream Advisors Inc.; 42. ‘Better Business, Smarter Travel’, 2018,
Amadeus

48
Integrated Booking systems

While smaller organisations outsource all their Many organisations depend on their TMCs for
travel requirements to a single TMC, larger automation tools and enhancements in the
organisations have multiple vendors. Thus, every travel booking process. With the high cost of
employee has to book air tickets, lodging, surface implementing new technologies, some companies
transport, etc. on separate systems. prefer to involve their TMCs in decisions involving
such innovations due to their domain expertise.
In most organisations, travel booking and
expense management are handled in separate However, currently there is more focus on
systems. After the completion of the business following restrictive travel policies and compliance
trip, employees must go through a lengthy than on tools to enhance employee productivity
reimbursement process, involving receipts and during travel.
approvals for all travel expenses.
The rise of a distinct and diverse generation of
Thus, centralization of all travel related processes Indian business travellers means companies must
and information can lead to an enhanced traveller learn how best to serve their needs. Going forward,
experience. It can also increase transparency in companies need to adopt a more systematic
the system and provide real time information for approach to travel management that evolves with
quick and efficient decision making in case of employee behavior, driven by technology.
modifications or cancellations.

Figure 33: Booking process for employees

Book Air
Tickets

Integrated portal
for all travel
needs

Get Employee Book

Approvals Accommodation

Employee

Book Surface
Transport

Conventional Process Integrated Process

Source: Industry Interactions

Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India

49
 Voices of the industry

For international travel, we send We are continuously improving

our employees a day earlier to our travel booking process. After
allow them to recuperate from implementing Self Booking Tool,
their long flight. we are looking at Blockchain
technology to integrate multiple
booking systems.
- General Manger, at a leading
electric company
- Head of Finance, at a leading
construction and engineering
company

In the future, we will have

virtual assistants to make travel
arrangements for employees. We allow our employees to
choose from a variety of preferred
accommodation options such as
- Head of Travel, at a leading OYO rooms, through our booking
conglomerate portal.

- Head of Admin, at a leading

electronics company
Over the years, the time spent
by employee in booking travel
has reduced. With the help of
technology, this process can be
further simplified.
In the next few years, there will be
no need for implants at the client
site and all travel management
will be entirely outsourced or
done by employee through robust
technologically superior systems.

- Head of Admin, at a
leading oil and gas company

Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India

50
Transparency

51
The business travel industry, like any other Figure 34: Transparency levers
industry, has buyers and sellers and a network
of partners who ease the pain points between The need for transparency in a managed
supply and demand. But a travel buyer’s supply business travel programme can be
chain is very complex with multiple stakeholders categorized into the following-
like airlines, hotels, transportation providers,
technology companies, payment providers,
global distribution systems, travel management
companies and others. These suppliers and
partners don’t just have contracts just with Supplier Data Traveller
buyers but also with each other thus adding Management Management Satisfaction
to the complexity of the supply chain. Airlines
and hotels have agreements with GDSs, Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India, KPMG
GDSs have agreements with TMCs and TMCs Analysis
have agreements with airlines and hotels—
independent from each party’s agreement with booking systems such as number of employees
the buyer. These stakeholders are engaged in a booking out of policy, flouting the advanced
many-to-many interaction web. booking guidelines, cancelling/ modifying travel
arrangements can help travel managers become
Consequently, there is a complex and invisible savvier and maximize the return on trips for the
stream of payments, incentives, commissions, corporation, while eliminating unnecessary travel
bonuses, overrides, discounts, waivers and costs.
favors flowing within the value chain. This poses
a challenge to travel managers. Transparency with respect to traveller satisfaction
can help corporates in not only attracting and
With the advent of online booking combined with retaining talent, but also in improving the ROI of
the rising importance of securing personal data, the travel being undertaken.
there is an increased need to ensure no leakages
in terms of data of employees who are travelling Travel managers can improve the effectiveness
for business. Although agreements between of their company’s travel by bringing in
third parties always contain confidentiality and transparency in the aforementioned areas.
nondisclosure clauses, corporates need to ensure
its efficacy. Additionally, insightful data from

52
 Figure 35: Travel Distribution Industry

Indirect payment
Referral fees & advertising
Suppliers Suppliers

Booking
fee

Commission
Aggregators &
GDS BSP Aggregators &
Travel agent IT
GDS
Metasearch
Metasearch Subscription & Incentive companies &
Travel agents travel agent IT payments
companies gatekeepers

Travel agents
Referral fees
Gatekeepers Direct payment & advertising
Service fee &
fare

Consumers Consumers

Source: Amadeus/LSE

Supplier Management

The flow of incentives, commissions and fees Thus, travel managers need to revise their
in the corporate travel distribution network is negotiating strategy by looking into their travel
complex and with the advent of internet and volumes and cross referencing them with their
online travel agencies, it is becoming more so. most frequently visited destinations as well
Corporates have limited visibility of the markups as employee spending and booking patterns.
levied in the distribution system. Hence, a lot of They need to adopt the concept of continuous
the large corporate houses have direct tie ups sourcing under which they need to review prices
with hotels and airlines (that they pass on to their and demand all year round based on the changes
travel management partner) and an internal team in their company’s business.
that checks various platforms/ sources to ensure
bookings are being made at the lowest possible TMCs on the other hand need to bring in meta
fares. data, reviews and other marketplace data to give
full transparency on quality being delivered to their
Airline booking is more streamlined in the clients. They need to ensure that all the data is made
Indian corporate travel market as there are a available on a single source in real time, to enable
select number of air carriers and companies can their partner in making the best decision against a
easily aggregate their demand to negotiate bulk certain quality target and a savings target.
discounts.
New agreements are being crafted, new terms
Hotel booking, however, is whole different and conditions are emerging and efficiencies
game altogether. Hotels form the second largest are beginning to flow in new ways. By forcing
cost head of corporate travel and with a highly transparency throughout the RFP process, having
fragmented hotel market, negotiations with proper representation during negotiations and
the hotel industry are very costly and time- introducing disclosure and right-to-audit terms
consuming. Most Indian corporates are facing a and conditions into final contracts, corporate
challenge in optimizing this cost head. Although travel managers could find hidden benefits in the
there is high saving potential for hotel purchasing, travel value chain.
companies they need more market expertise and
cost transparency to do so.

53
Data Management

With growing digitization, data has emerged

as the cornerstone for accurate, reliable and
timely decision making. To drive transparency in
corporate travel, managers need to look at data
from the following two aspects:

• Predictive Data Analytics

• Data privacy and security

Corporate houses should leverage the

analytics value added services offered by their
travel management partner to improve the
effectiveness of their business travel. Analytics predict travel volumes and patterns. The former
can not only be used to analyse expense data (by enables corporates to minimize leakages while
providing insights into how many employees are the latter allows them to leverage their position
booking out of the prescribed policy) but to also to negotiate with their suppliers. Predicting
traveller behaviour can assist organisations to
Figure 36: Predictive Data Analytics
plan ahead. For example, if a company finds that
most of their travel is booked 10 days in advance,
they can negotiate with their supplier to monitor
costs and rebook the tickets in case lower fares
are made available.

Data privacy and security is another aspect

that corporates need pay close attention to.
Transparency in terms of what data their partners
SPEND PRICING have access to, how they are using that data and
CONCENTRATION PREDICTIONS where they are storing the said data are of great
to predict to drive rate
importance, especially in light of the revised data
consolidation and negotiations and
protection bill.
provide insights for policy structure
supplier negotiations Data has become a prerequisite for any decision
making. Consequently, there has been a sharp
rise in the number of cyber attacks and hacking
activities. In light of these, comprehensive data
protection laws are needed to safeguard the
interests of all stakeholders involved in any online
transaction. The Indian data protection draft bill
draws inspirations from the EU General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is aimed at
TRAVELLER EXPENSE establishing a regulatory framework to safeguard
BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS businesses and consumers alike.
to predict rate to keep policy
of cancellation/ flouting to a Driving transparency in data management can
modification and minimum and enable organisations to optimize their travel cost,
drive travel policy prevent leakages drive effectiveness and minimize leakages in
structuring their corporate travel programme.

54
 Data Protection Bil (draft), 2018
The government, acting through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, appointed
a Committee of Experts headed by former Supreme Court Justice B N Srikrishna to draft a law for
the Indian context, namely the Data Protection Bill, 2018 (“Draft Bill”)

Why is the Data Protection Bill needed?

Ubiquity of the Digitization Privacy-Conscious Jurisdictional

internet Consumers Disputes

Impact on travel

Absolute Establishment
Citizen Rights Data Fiduciary Financial
localization of of Regulatory
Obligations Penalties
data Authority

Impact on travel

This bill will affect the use of web analytics tools, data collection and tracking that is being
used by many companies for personalization of services and retargeted advertisements.

Shaping future booking on the basis of stored client preferences is an integral part of
the streamlined service that TMCs’ offer to travellers. In light of the data protection
bill, TMCs will need to find innovative ways to customize travel itineraries, while
minimizing client risk through methods of storing personal data.

Corporates are accountable for their travelling employees’ data and must do their
own due diligence in order to understand how their TMC partners and suppliers are
handling the data. They need to verify if the bill requirements are being met and
implement strict compliance regimes to ensure it.

Under the new bill, companies will also need robust supplier risk management
processes in place for managing third-party relationships and assessing the
associated risks to which they might be exposed as a part of these relationships.

55
Traveller Satisfaction Figure 37: Four ways to find balance between
cost incurred and traveller satisfaction
Indian corporate travellers are more motivated
than ever by personal ambition and desire
for recognition, as well as opportunities to
grow. When they travel, they are looking for
experiences that offer convenience, comfort and
connectivity to stay productive.

view business travel as a time to Provide travellers Work with

91% re-energise both professionally and technology to partners (TMCs
personally43 manage their travel and suppliers) to
expand the content
travellers have
of Indian business travellers feel access to while
90% motivated to get more work done booking
when travelling for business43

feel pressure to work longer hours

72% when traveling for business43

Thus, transparency in terms of traveller Educate travellers Benchmark best

satisfaction can not only help companies improve about their travel practices with
the effectiveness of business travel but also to options and reassure industry peers
retain and attract talent. Travel managers thus them that they can to find the right
face the task of striking a balance between receive benefits balance between
offering a holistic experience for their travellers such as loyalty choice and control
while maintaining a robust program that deters points without while mitigating risk
off-channel bookings and rewards conscientious flouting policy factors
budgeting.
Focusing on traveller satisfaction doesn’t mean
A two-way dialogue that addresses both that travellers can do whatever they want or that
employee and employer requirements can travel policies will become so flexible that they
enable all parties meet their objectives. become detrimental to the bottom line. It centers
around creating policies and deploying tools that
The entire business travel experience inherently
improve traveller experience. The compliance
takes people outside of their comfort zones by
then comes naturally, as will the savings.
forcing travellers to relinquish some control,
especially when compared to how people travel To conclude, maintaining transparency in
for leisure. This reinforces the importance of the travel process and ecosystem enables
travel managers having frequent interaction companies to isolate leakages (expense and
and communication with travellers to address data) and identify any existing gaps in their
company expectations and tools available, managed travel programme. Thus, by highlighting
mitigating the risk of poor experiences and out- strengths to be leveraged as well as gaps to be
of-policy bookings. addressed, maximum value can be derived from
all travel partners.

Source: 43. Business Traveller Survey, conducted by The Harris Poll More than 1,300 adults across India, the United States and
China who have traveled for business in the last 12 months (international business travellers) were interviewed 

56
 Voices of the industry

If a TMC is giving me a guaranteed We have iron clad NDAs with our

price-value ratio, I’m willing to travel management partner who
commit to that partner. have access to select heads of
our employee data for a period of
six months post which they are
- Head Admin, at a leading to erase all data they have had
telecom tower company access to in the course of their
business with us.

- Admin Head CXO, leading

For us, transparency is key. It consumer electrical equipment
ensures people get the best manufacturing company
deals in terms of both price and
services. Employees should have
the flexibility to chose (irrespective
of who the preferred vendor is)
what they find best as long as it
lies within the policy.

Having direct tie-ups with hotels

and airlines gives us better rates
- Admin Head CXO, leading
as there is no middle man mark up
consumer electrical equipment
involved.
manufacturing company

- Head Admin, at a leading

telecom tower company
We would like our TMC to provide
better deals for smaller cities and
unfamiliar travel destinations.

Company does not have

bandwidth to monitor all locations
- Senior Manager Admin, leading
in India. This is where TMCs can
diversified natural resources
leverage their pan India network
company
and provide additional assistance
to companies.

- Manager Admin, at a leading

FMCG company

Source: Industry Interactions by KPMG in India

57
 Towards a more
effective Corporate
Travel Environment

58
Way Forward

The Indian business travel market has grown maintaining their business objectives. Thus,
significantly over the years, making India the 7th collaboration between companies and their travel
largest business travel market. The volume of partners is more important than ever.
travel is expected to grow further as companies
expand their businesses in an increasingly The four pillars of corporate travel management
connected world. serve as an underlying foundation for developing
a comprehensive travel program that aims
With a tech savvy and digitally inclined workforce, to integrate and fulfil the needs of all the
organisations need to be well equipped to stakeholders involved.
address the needs of their employees while

Key Trends Implications Recommendations

• Organisations need to constantly update or

• As the needs and replace outdated systems such as offline
• Evolving profile
preferences of the Indian booking of tickets
of the Indian
business traveller evolve,
business • Frequent re-evaluation of travel policies
organisations need to evolve
traveller and processes to suit the needs of the
at the same pace
current millennial generation

• Companies should take steps to integrate

• Incorporating non traditional sharing economy accommodation options
• Growing
options into company such as Airbnb and OYO into their booking
employee
policies to ensure that process
preference
a variety of options are
for sharing • Flexible booking policies could allow
available to employees
economy employees to choose the accommodation/
and hence facilitate policy
services service of their choice in a safe and
compliance
monitored manner

• Organisations need to • With the growing demand for online/

understand and adapt to the mobile services, TMCs and organisations
• Employees behavioral changes in their must collaborate to develop tools suited to
are becoming travellers the needs of the company’s employees
increasing • Providing services as per the • Depending on the volume of business
mobile-friendly needs of the new travellers travel and employee adaptability,
should be a key aspect of investment should be made in
corporate travel management technological tools for travel process

• Systems need to be in place ensure safety

• Companies need to be of women travellers
aware of the rising share of • Selection of various vendors should
• Rise in women
women travellers and the take into account the needs of women
travellers
implications of this trend on travellers
their operations and policies • Women employees should be made aware
of all policies in place for them

59
 Key Trends Implications Recommendations

• Employers must take a proactive

• Employers must take approach to employee safety such as
• Rising security proper precautions periodic communication regarding the
concerns of to address employee safety polices, regular alerts for travel
employees when concerns for and pre-trip guides
travelling international as well as • Selected vendors should be properly
domestic travel vetted and regularly audited to ensure
quality of service

• As per their requirement, companies

should tie-up with international
organisations or dedicated TMCs to
provide an extra layer of safety to
employees
Safety

• Travel managers • Companies to have

• Companies should be updated on the
struggle to meet safety infrastructure in
various new technologies or systems
safety needs of place that is suited to
that ensure employee safety such
their organisation their business needs
as employee tracking systems and
emergency check-in technology
• Cost and scope of additional security
services by TMCs should be
considered carefully

• Travel risks should be pre-identified

• Organisations should through travel risk management
• Most organisations
be prepared for assessment
don’t have
emergencies at all • Employees should be aware of the
contingency plans
times steps that they need to take when
uncertain situations arise
• Companies with large travel volumes
often get better rates with hotels and
• Companies need to airlines when dealing directly with
• Optimizing costs
analyse costs from all them as compared to prices offered
is one of the
perspectives: front- through TMCs
top concerns for
end, back end and • TMCs need to ensure that they offer
organisations
travel costs competitively priced services to clients
through their partnership with various
hotels and airlines.
• Flexible and traveller
Efficiency

friendly policies will

• Tendency of lead to higher levels of • Automated tools and platforms,
compliance corporate cards and forex cards can be
employees to book
leveraged to drive cost efficiency by
outside the policy • Adopting ‘Bill to Card’ increasing savings and providing better
purview model will provide visibility of travel spends
higher visibility into
travel spend patterns
• Integration of such services into
• Rising demand for
• Cost benefits of company portal to ensure proper
better lodging options
sharing economy systems are in place
available on other
services are • Robust screening process before
platforms should be
significant onboarding these services onto
taken into account
company booking portal

60
 Key Trends Implications Recommendations

• Companies and their • Integration of multiple booking

travel partners need systems to create a one stop portal for
• Reduced employee to streamline their all employee travel needs
time in the booking travel process to allow • Implementation of advanced booking
Productivity

process employees to focus on tools and mobile apps that give on

their work and improve the go access to travel information to
their performance employees

• Implementation of technology tools

suited to travel needs
• Collaboration with TMCs to create a
• A flexible and seamless traveller experience
transparent process
• Low emphasis on • Educate employees on benefits of
can increase traveller
traveller satisfaction business travel such as loyalty points,
satisfaction and hence
overall job satisfaction without flouting policy
• Benchmark industry practices to
balance choice and control, in a risk
free manner

• Many-to-many • There should be transparency in pricing

interactions of the products/services for companies
• A transparent model
amongst to get a better price value ratio
for demand and supply
stakeholders with • When buying a product or services,
management of the
no visibility on flow companies should be aware of the
travel ecosystem
of incentives & commissions and mark ups involved to
Transparency

commissions ensure the best price

• As TMCs and other • Strong NDAs and data confidentiality

vendors have access to agreements should be signed by all
• Guidelines to involved parties
employee information,
ensure data safety
employers should • Implications of Data Protection bill
and security should
ensure there is no should be understood and carried out
be in place as relevant
misuse of such
information

• Predictive analysis through monthly/

• Companies need to quarterly reports provided by TMCs
analyse loose ends can be leveraged to make bookings in
• Identification of
in the travel booking advance and carry out negotiations
expense leakages
process and address • Identifying gaps in services and
them changing traveller behaviors and
adapting to them
• TMCs should focus on developing
differentiating factors such as superior
technological capabilities or structured
• Most companies pick Duty of Care programmes, robust MIS
• Most TMCs are
their travel service reporting, etc. in order to compensate
selected on the for higher price
provider based on price
basis of price
and market reputation • TMCs should maintain strong relations
with existing clients as market
reputation is a key parameter for TMC
selection

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Conclusion

With a deep understanding of traveller needs, This creates an opportunity for corporates and
corporations and TMCs can deliver the type TMCs to collectively transform how people travel
of service that employees expect. As each for business. A successful travel management
corporation has different requirements and programme combines the interests of travellers,
each traveller has his/her personal preferences, corporations, travel agents and travel providers
there is greater need for flexibility and and fulfils their needs.
agility in adapting to the needs of them all.
Communication and connectivity is essential for Thus, by working on and building upon the
today’s traveller. Business travellers want control four pillars, TMCs can continue to demonstrate
over their travel without hampering business the value they provide while corporations can
objectives. embrace changes in their managed travel
programs.

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Glossary
ACTE Association of Corporate Travel Executives
APAC Asia Pacific
B2B Business to Business
Bn Billion
BPO Business Process Outsourcing
CAGR Compounded Annual Growth Rate
EU European Union
GBTA Global Business Travel Association
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation
GDS Global Distribution System
GoI Government of India
INR Indian Rupee
IT Information Technology
ITes Information Technology Enabled Services
MICE Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events
MIS Management Information System
MMT Make My Trip
NDA Non-disclosure Agreement
OTA Online Travel Agency
RFP Request for Proposal
ROI Return on Investment
SBT Self Booking Tool
SME Small and Medium Enterprises
T&E Travel and Entertainment
T&T Travel and Tourism
TEM Travel and Expense Management
TMC Travel Management Company
USD United States Dollar

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FCM Travel Solutions
Contact in India
Rakesh Negi
Brand Leader
FCM Travel Solutions India
T : +91 98718 01176
E : rakesh.negi@in.fcm.travel

Email: info@in.fcm.travel
Toll Free: 18002661312
in.fcm.travel

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