About two-thirds of travel companies surveyed by travel tech firm Amadeus indicated that they plan to increase in 2024 their investment in travel-related technology from 2023 levels, and those that plan to average a double-digit percentage expenditure increase.
About 67 percent of the travel company respondents among the 1,253 "leading travel technology decision-makers" across the globe who Amadeus commissioned independent market research agency Opinium to survey in the fourth quarter of 2023 indicated they plan a travel technology investment hike this year.
Among those respondents are corporate travel managers as well as representatives from airlines, hotels, airports, payment providers and "travel sellers," a category that includes business, leisure and online travel agencies.
The corporate buyer respondents who project their organizations to increase 2024 travel tech spending year over year expect them to do so by an average of 15 percent, according to Amadeus, making it the category with the second-highest projected increase.
"What we see is a lot more weight being given to how they're going to provide [an] employee experience to be fully digital," Amadeus president of travel Decius Valmorbida said during a press event announcing the results. "With the new flexible and hybrid work models … you want to provide the best digital tools for [employees] to do their travel and expense management process."
The sector with the largest projected year-over-year increase in 2024 travel technology spending is airports, where respondents forecast an average 17 percent increase. Additionally, 60 percent of airport respondents indicated they projected their airports in the next five years would roll out biometric technology, "including check-in, bag-drop, lounge and boarding," according to Amadeus.
Respondents in the travel sellers category who projected more 2024 travel tech spending on average expect a 13 percent increase, the same figure as airline respondents, and just below the average of 14 percent forecast by hotel respondents.