Employees increasingly expect the convenience of consumer-style booking tools, while companies still need visibility over spending, policy compliance, traveller safety and business outcomes. At the same time, sustainability, wellbeing, and data are becoming more relevant to how travel programmes are evaluated. For organisations, these shifts are influencing how travel programmes are evaluated, measured, and governed. Travel managers are increasingly expected to balance cost control, policy compliance, traveller safety, reporting visibility, and business outcomes simultaneously.
This article explores the corporate travel trends likely to shape 2027 and what travel managers should prioritise as they review their programmes for the year ahead.
Corporate Travel Trends 2027
Self-service booking will continue, but oversight still matters
Online booking tools have made it easier for employees to manage straightforward trips themselves. This expectation is unlikely to disappear.
GBTA’s 2026 Business Travel Index found that more than 65% of business travellers said their companies require or encourage bookings through a Travel Management Company (TMC) or corporate online booking tool.
The opportunity for 2027 is therefore not necessarily to choose self-service over managed travel. It is to make the two work together.
The opportunity for 2027 is to make self-service and managed travel work together. Routine trips stay quick on an online platform. A TMC steps in for complex itineraries, policy exceptions, disruption and urgent changes. Travellers keep their autonomy, and the business keeps its controls. Our clients book routine trips online, and our team handles the rest.
Data will become more important to travel policy
Travel managers increasingly need to demonstrate what their programmes are achieving, not simply how much they spend. A GBTA study with Spotnana, Marriott and Direct Travel (March 2026, 269 travel buyers in North America and Europe) found that 92% are interested in predictive analytics for spend forecasting and 89% in automated disruption management and rebooking.
The same study found only 12% have a consolidated view of their travel programme from a single data source, and 63% cite lack of consolidated reporting as a top challenge.
That gap is where good data pays off. Consolidated reporting shows booking patterns, policy leakage, supplier performance, destination exposure and changing traveller behaviour in one place. Holiday Tours manages more than RM500 million in corporate travel expenditure annually and uses reporting to help organisations turn travel data into more informed decisions.
The priority is not simply to collect more data, but to turn right travel data into actionable insights for better decision-making.
Sustainability will need to become more practical
Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of everyday travel decisions rather than a separate corporate initiative. Companies can incorporate it into travel policy through decisions around route selection, rail where practical, hotel choices, trip consolidation and travel frequency.
The question for travel managers is increasingly how sustainability considerations can sit alongside cost, traveller needs and business objectives when a trip is being approved or booked. We help clients build those choices into policy so they apply at the point of booking.
Traveller wellbeing will influence policy decisions
Wellbeing is now hard to separate from productivity and duty of care. The 2026 SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey found that 93% say business travel benefits their mental or physical wellbeing. Yet 67% say they are hesitant to travel for business this year, citing safety, disruption and unpredictability.
For travel managers, that points to practical policy choices:
- reasonable connection times
- appropriate accommodation
- flexibility during disruption
- itineraries that are not unnecessarily compressed
Access to traveller support matters most when something goes wrong.
What should travel managers prioritise for 2027?
Rather than chasing every new travel technology or trend, travel managers can focus on a few priorities that strengthen governance, visibility, and traveller support:
- Connect self-service with human support, so convenience does not come at the expense of oversight.
- Strengthen travel data and reporting, so policy and supplier decisions are evidence-based.
- Build sustainability into everyday travel decisions rather than treating it as a separate initiative.
- Review traveller wellbeing and duty of care alongside cost and compliance.
- Prepare for disruption with clear escalation processes and accessible support.
FAQs
- Will self-service booking replace travel management companies?
Not necessarily. Self-service can handle routine bookings, while TMC support remains valuable for complex travel, disruptions, policy management and traveller assistance.
- Why is travel data becoming more important?
Better reporting and travel data help travel managers identify spending patterns, policy gaps, supplier performance and traveller behaviour, supporting more informed decisions.
- How can sustainability be incorporated into corporate travel?
Companies can consider sustainability alongside cost and business requirements when evaluating transport, accommodation, trip frequency and itinerary choices.
- Why should traveller wellbeing be part of travel policy?
Well-designed policies can support employee safety, reasonable travel conditions and productivity while reducing unnecessary travel-related strain.
- What should travel managers prioritise in 2027?
Focus on connected booking and support, useful travel data, practical sustainability measures, traveller wellbeing and effective disruption management.
Bringing the moving parts together with Holiday Tours
As corporate travel programmes become more data-led and traveller expectations continue to evolve, having the right structure behind the programme becomes increasingly important.
At Holiday Tours & Travel, we help organisations strengthen travel governance through integrated booking, reporting, and traveller-support capabilities. Our partnership with BCD Travel also connects Malaysian businesses to a broader global travel network, while our 50+ years of corporate travel experience gives us a practical understanding of the operational demands behind business travel.
For 2027, the focus should not be on adopting every new trend. It should be on building a travel programme where technology, data and human support work together around the needs of the business and its travellers.
GET STARTED WITH YOUR CORPORATE TRAVEL PROGRAMME FOR 2027. REACH OUT TO US AT +603 2303 9100 (PRESS 3) OR [email protected]
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