New Year's Resolutions

Tradition says that  the beginning of each year is the right time to formulate promises and wishes to change behaviour or accomplish goals.

For some this may imply the firm purpose of loosing some extra pounds after Christmas festivities and unbalanced diet. Others may wish to establish new priorities in their lifes ....

Wether we decide for more regular visits to the gym or look through the really important things of life, the beginning of a new year seems to be an excellent opportunity to reconsider objectives.

,,, and not only with regard to our personal issues.

As I'm not going to share with your my private resolutions for 2019 I will focus on some professional wishes that may work out both for TMCs and TMM.

Because 2019 may be a tough year with lot of challenges since the world's economic growth is losing momentum and contraction in trade could drag down the global economy even more, airfares and hotel rates will rise in most of the regions, and fare fragmentation due to new distribution models may add confusion and less transparency.

As a result of it companies may see a decrease in their ROI in business travel, for sales and exports will become more difficult and the average investment in travel is supposed to increase.

No matter what reasons we may find for it, at the end of the day corporations will certainly be interested in restoring the balance, which means pressure on TMM and TMCs to find adequate solutions and finally some savings.

As the influence we may take on world's economy and even on a hypothetical worldwide negotiation of fares with airlines and hotels is something out of reach for most of the companies, perhaps we should concentrate on other more realistic objectives, that may provide savings and thus restore ROI in a decelerating economical context.

Having said that, there are in my opinion two main areas where TMCs and TMM could easily dig in, in order to look for opportunities: the reduction of direct and indirect hidden costs and the guarantee of access to the widest possible range of  fares.

Both objectives require the combination and revision of travel policies and available technology and imply close co-operation between TMM and their TMCs.

If it seems a reasonable purpose for the sake of our businesses and of the economy itself, wouldn't it be worth the effort?

Marcel Forns (c) GEBTA 2019