Tag Archives: business travel

Christopherson Business Travel and Travelport jointly announced an industry first: being the first travel management company (TMC) to successfully issue a ticket on the revolutionary Deem platform since its integration with Travelport+. The move signals a significant advancement in corporate travel management and marks the dawn of a new era in modern retailing. The integration of Deem with Travelport+ demonstrates Christopherson’s commitment to providing its customers with the most efficient and advanced travel booking options. New distribution capability (NDC) technology allows for more personalization, flexibility, and transparency in booking and servicing travel, ultimately enhancing the customer experience. As longtime partners of Travelport, Christopherson was one of the first North American TMCs to upgrade to Travelport+, enabling the agency to deliver the modern retailing experience their customers expect. Travelport+ simplifies access to multi-source content and generates value for agents and travelers, with advanced retailing capabilities, sophisticated cloud-based point of sale solutions, and tools that make operations easier. “Adopting Deem with Travelport+ is a game-changer for our clients,” said Mike Cameron, CEO of Christopherson Business Travel. “This successful implementation not only positions us at the industry’s forefront, but it ensures our customers benefit from a consumer-like booking tool with multi-source content, including NDC, displayed in a modern storefront, all powered by Travelport+.”

Statistics echo this sentiment, with ‘bleisure’ tourism accounting for 30-35% of the global business tourism market and boasting a staggering worth of $500 billion (Dh2 trillion) in 2022. The upward trajectory is set to keep rising, with a projected growth rate of 20% over the ensuing decade. As the corporate travel industry regains its stride post challenges, the concept of ‘bleisure’ tourism, a blend of business and leisure travel, is quickly positioning itself as not only popular but also economically prudent, reveals Musafir Business, the leading all-in-one corporate travel management platform in the region by musafir.com. Sachin Gadoya, CEO and Co-Founder of musafir.com and Musafir Business, offers insights, “Following the pandemic, the sphere of ‘bleisure’ travel is witnessing a significant upswing in the region, with nearly 20% of corporate travelers thoughtfully weaving leisure experiences into their business journeys. Projections indicate that this number is destined to rise further by 15% in the times ahead.” This dynamic shift is evident as individuals extending their business trips by 1-2 days for leisure, and vice versa, becomes increasingly common. Forecasts predict these trips will span more destinations, boasting longer durations. Larger international companies are quick to adopt this trend, while smaller-scale and local firms, which are not multinational corporations, may take more time to embrace it. The average ticket price for corporate travel within the GCC ranges from AED 3,500 to 4,000, and this trend is expected to continue through 2024. Amid the scorching summer heat, corporate travel primarily entails outbound trips from the UAE. Prominent business travel destinations like Europe, the USA, and South East Asia proficiently address the diverse demands of corporate globetrotters, with ticket prices ranging between AED 5,500 to …

Travelport confirmed the integration with Deem and Travelport+. The announcement comes just months after Travelport publicized the game-changing acquisition, a move intended to fulfill a growing need for a tight, fully-integrated tool that provides access and end-to-end servicing of all multi-source content, including NDC. “Business travelers want, and deserve, the same modern retailing experience as leisure travelers,” said John Elieson, COO and Deputy CEO of Travelport. “When Travelport announced the acquisition of Deem in March, it was with the intention of providing the corporate travel world with award-winning, complementary tools that are as revolutionary, modern, and easy-to-use as Travelport+. We’ve not only delivered on that promise, but are proud to confirm the integration of the Deem and Travelport+ platforms.” Together, Deem and Travelport are modernizing the corporate travel experience. Travel management companies (TMCs), corporations and their travelers that utilize Deem and Travelport+ will be able to access a wide range of rich and relevant content, all in one place, enhanced by the Content Curation Layer (CCL). This Travelport+ feature uses powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) capabilities to provide agents and travelers a more modern retailing experience with faster search responses, more pertinent results, and greater accuracy. When seamlessly integrated with Deem’s award-winning, modern user interface, this will allow travelers to stay within their corporate policies while ensuring bookings (including NDC) are fully serviceable. In the 150 days since the acquisition, Deem has continued to thrive, with notable moments such as: Being named a Champion in Software Reviews 2023 Travel Management Emotional Footprint Awards Expanding to support global customers in more than 60 countries Achieving a net score of 9.5 in a customer satisfaction survey, a nearly two-point lead …

Ibrahim Nalkhande is the newly appointed General Manager at Business Travel LLC, a leading Dubai based Travel Management Company. Nalkhande, described as a man of wisdom, insight and understanding, said he is very excited about the upcoming challenges and opportunities. Having established reputation in the travel industry and got experience from some of the renowned brands of the industry, Nalkhande said he had a clear mandate to take Business Travel to the next summit. The fiscal year 2023 started with a very positive note special mention to first two months recorded performance, the momentum will gain further pace , and I am optimistic that we will exceed the pre-pandemic numbers in this year stated Nalkhande. I am very excited with the new role and challenges that lie ahead for m in my new assignment. I will use the diversified experience and expertise of Travel Industry for the betterment, growth and profitable business development of Business Travel LLC said Nalkhande who shares the vision of Rashid Al Noori, the Chairman and stalwart of the industry, the visionary of ‘Business Travel LLC ‘an expanding conglomerate that saw its beginning in Dubai in 2006.

Business travel in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is recovering more rapidly than in any other region, according to the most recent Business Travel Index™ Outlook annual forecast and outlook (2022), from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s largest business travel association. MEA business travel achieved 86% of its 2019 levels during 2022, outperforming the recovery in Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The strong performance of the sector and future opportunities will come under the spotlight during Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from 1-4 May. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “The business travel sector is a key component of the Middle East’s wider travel and tourism industry, and it is encouraging to see that it has bounced back so strongly since the pandemic. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) will present an in-depth analysis of how technology can support this return to travel and the ways in which this can be done sustainably in two education sessions with key insights from leading industry professionals.” According to the forecast, business travel spending reached $933 billion globally in 2022, 65% of the USD $1.4 trillion business pre-pandemic travel spend, with the MEA region accounting for $23 billion or approximately 2.5% of overall spending within the sector. “The MEA region is an important growth market for business travel and benefitted from a prompt Covid-19 vaccination roll-out in key markets such as the UAE and Israel, as well as increased economic activity driven by the rising price of crude oil to accelerate the business travel recovery. The region is expected to return to pre-pandemic business travel spend by …