CORPORATE travel sector is growing at a raid pace in the country including in the cities like Nagpur. However, the growth in the tier 2 cities is not at par with that of the growth rate in the metro cities. CEO of a Nagpur-based travel company - Velocity.Travel - Varun Sarda said the sector is booming post COVID. “A large number corporate people are arriving ehre and those form the region are travelling out. It shows that the growth is bound to heppen,” he said. India’s over USD 10.6 billion corporate travel sector is estimated to grow at 10.1 per cent CAGR to USD 20.8 billion by FY30, driven by techenabled, personalised and sustainable solutions, according to a report. Deloitte’s report - Exploring India’s Corporate Travel Market: Understanding Market Dynamics, TMCs, and User Preferences - is based on interviews of over 45 travel managers and a survey of over 160 corporate travellers from diverse industries and organisations of varying sizes. Entering a transformative phase, betting on new ways of working and technological disruption, India’s corporate travel sector is valued at over USD 10.6 billion and is projected to grow at 10.1 per cent CAGR and double to USD 20.8 billion by FY30, the report said.

 

As businesses recalibrate their travel strategies with hybrid work models after the pandemic, India’s corporate travel sector underlines the critical role of travel management companies (TMCs) in steering the industry into a new era of innovation, cost efficiency and sustainability, it added. The incorporation of cutting-edge technology is at the heart of this shift. TMCs have revamped their strategies to meet the needs of new-age travellers, who need to engage deeper and faster using AI-powered chatbots, voice-assisted booking systems and real-time data analytics, it said. These technologies can be tailored to customers’ needs while simplifying the experience for business travellers, the report added. For small and mid-size organisations (up to 250 employees), travel expenditure can reach Rs 1 crore per year, while large organisations (250- 5,000 employees) allocate Rs 10 crore annually towards travel expenses. For large organisations (over 5,000 employees), travel expenses are directly proportional to the employee count. An analysis of the top 100 listed firms revealed that a leading IT major, with some of the highest travel spends, incurred travel expenses of more than Rs 2,600 crore in FY23, the report said. Meanwhile, it also found that there is a rising demand for auxiliary services, with 72 per cent of respondents requesting taxi services and 63 per cent seeking visa assistance on travel platforms, emphasising the need for comprehensive travel solutions. The report identified IT services, BFSI, engineering, aviation, oil and gas, pharma, FMCG and automobiles, among others, as the top industries driving corporate travel expenditures.