Are we experiencing the third wave of disruption in the business travel market?
In the early years of the btTB Annual Conference, between 2000 – 2003, the hottest topic areas were the transition from traditional ‘commission driven’ revenue models for TMC’s to ‘fee for service’ models and the arrival of the first online booking tools (OBT’s). Talk was of TMC’s being ‘disintermediated’ as the OBT’s replaced the need for them, something that of course failed to transpire. Let’s call this ‘Disruption 1.0’.
In 2016 the talk was all about new technology enabled business models disrupting the market, not just in travel, but also in the wider economy. The ‘sharing economy’ was all the rage. In the travel space we were primarily talking about the likes of Uber, AirBnb and GoGet, whose new services presented significant challenges to established players in the travel supply chain. Let’s call this ‘Disruption 2.0’.
So what might ‘Disruption 3.0’ be all about?
In a similar vein to the two examples above, Disruption 3.0 is being driven by new business models enabled by advances in technology. NDC (new distribution capability) is the enabler, allowing travel suppliers more direct control of their inventory distribution and most importantly, reduced distribution costs. This is already having significant impacts on the travel supply chain. These impacts will directly affect corporate travel buyers.
At btTB – GBTA 2020 travel buyers and suppliers will explore ‘Disruption 3.0’, how it will impact on the travel supply chain and corporate travel programmes, and what stakeholders can do to ensure they and their organisations are prepared for it.
I look forward to seeing you at the conference,
Nigel Wardropper
btTB
Delegates are most engaged (and happy) when they are actively involved in the learning experience. The 2020 btTB-GBTA programme will therefore contain more interactive sessions than ever before. We first ran ‘round-table’ sessions at the btTB conference as early as 2004, but in 2020 we will be stepping the interactivity up with a range of different participatory sessions such as:
The primary benefits of these interactive sessions are:
There will also be a variety of main stage presentations and panels, where appropriate, usually focussed on topics where information needs to be imparted or particular opinions expressed.
For Buyers
For Suppliers