Travel management companies are the largest sources of data and data analysis for travel buyers, though a significant portion also rely on internal data analysts, according to a survey of 197 travel buyers conducted by BCD Travel.
The survey, conducted in April predominantly among buyers in North America and Europe who work for companies with more than 10,000 employees, showed 89 percent or respondents use their TMC as a data source, compared with 69 percent of buyers who use card and payment solutions and expense management solutions as data sources. About two-thirds of buyers use online booking tools as data sources, and 58 percent use travel suppliers, while a smaller percentage use internal sources such as travel surveys or HR systems.
TMCs also were the largest resource for data and collection and analysis for buyers in the survey, used by 63 percent of respondents. Only 9 percent of respondents said they used third-party data aggregators or external consultants for data analysis, and about a quarter of respondents said they use no third parties for data.
TMC dashboards also were the mostly widely used tool for data analysis, used by 84 percent of respondents, slightly ahead of the 81 percent using spreadsheets. Business intelligence software was used by 45 percent of respondents, and only a small percentage used custom-built tools (15 percent) or third-party aggregators (8 percent).
Travel buyers in the survey indicated both that they have the skills to work with data themselves but that they prefer to have an outside eye on it. About three-quarters of respondents felt they had the necessary experience to work with data, and two-thirds said they interact with their data on a daily or weekly basis, according to the survey. However, 56 percent of respondents said they preferred to leave working with data "to the professionals," and 44 percent said they lack the time to interact with their data as much as they would like.
About a third of respondents said they have a part-time or full-time data analyst working with travel data within their company.
Buyers in the survey showed a lack of full confidence in their data, with only 35 percent saying they were very or extremely confident in their data. Just under half said they were moderately confident with their data, while 14 percent were slightly confident and 4 percent not confident at all with their data. The biggest challenge in working with data in the survey was fragmentation across multiple sources, cited by 57 percent of respondents.
The survey also indicated a relatively low use of AI in collecting and analyzing travel data, with three-quarters of respondents saying they did not use AI for that purpose. Only 9 percent said they used AI for travel data analysis—largely using tools provided by their employer rather than a third party—and 16 percent didn't know whether they used AI to analyze travel data, according to the survey.