Travel buyers identified AI as the leading trend to shape the future of travel sourcing, although a solid majority are not yet leveraging AI in their own programs, according to a new BCD Travel survey.
In the survey of 132 travel buyers —conducted in August, with 43 percent of respondents from North America and about a third from Europe—61 percent said increased use of AI and automation would shape the future of travel sourcing, a higher percentage than any other option in the survey. Only 14 percent, however, said they were using AI to "some extent" in the sourcing process, for such applications as market research, managing requests for proposal, drafting contracts and evaluating supplier performance. An additional 1 percent said they used AI "extensively" in sourcing.
That minority could turn into a majority, however, as 42 percent said they are not yet using AI in sourcing but are exploring options. Just under 40 percent of buyer respondents said they are not using AI in sourcing and didn't indicate they are planning to do so.
Other trends buyers identified as the biggest shapers of the future of sourcing include multi-year supplier agreements (46 percent) and a shift toward dynamic pricing and continuous sourcing (45 percent).
Cost control and savings is by far the biggest priority for buyers in sourcing, according to the survey. Eighty-six percent of buyers in the survey identified it as one of the top three priorities of their travel team's sourcing strategy, nearly 50 percentage points higher than the next-highest options, including collecting quality data from suppliers (38 percent), contract compliance (36 percent) and reducing supplier count for better leverage (31 percent). Pricing also topped the list of sourcing challenges for buyers, with 45 percent saying high costs and 41 percent saying rate fluctuations were among their top three sourcing challenges.