Define the concept of business travel

Every second thousands of business travellers across the globe are either beginning
or ending their trips and simultaneously thousands of concerts and exhibitions are
taking place worldwide. In short business travel is big business and because of that
Millions of people get employed around the world. The term ‘Business travel’ simply
means travellers who travel for business purposes from one place to other on behalf
of the corporation. Generally, the travel expenses are taken care by the corporation
itself.

Present scenario of International

travel industry
In the year 2019 the US travel industry completed a decade since they were
successfully able to recover from the depth of economic crises. This recovery helped
them to boost their economy in emerging markets and because of this there was a
greater demand for travel industry in various segment’s in travel industry.

The figures explain us very well. Across the period 2009-2017, There was a major
growth in US hotel gross booking the revenue jumped from $116 billion to $185
billion (See figure 1). Revenue Boost in Airline Industry was also significant as the
revenue was increased from $155 billion to $222 billion. The US travellers started to
love travelling again and because of this there was increase in demand for
international travel which benefited different sector such as cruise and hotels etc.
Many companies understood the value of business travel and how it will help their
organisation to connect and grow globally.

PRESENT SCENARIO OF INDIAN MARKET

AS EVENT VENUE IN RESPECT TO
INTERNATION TRAVEL BUSINESS

In India, GlobalStar is represented by International Travel House, Ltd

International Travel House Limited (ITH), is an associate company of ITC Limited India’s
foremost private sector company with a turnover of US $7 billion. ITH was established in the
year 1981, It was first listed travel company in INDIA. Different services which include
corporate travel, airline booking, car rental, destination management services, leisure
holidays, MICE, hotel travel counters and foreign exchange are the range of services which is
offered by the company.
India is lacking behind in terms of international meeting held every year, out of 12,563
international meetings India only hosted 174 meetings which is 1.4 percent globally. By
2023 global mice industry is expected to reach whooping 1.2 trillion dollars.
India has variety of beautiful destinations which can be combined by diverse tourism which
can help in enhancing mice. As India ranks 5th in Asia Pacific Region just behind Japan, china,
south Korea & Australia. India is the among the fastest growing economy in recent years.
However, to promote mice India is supposed to upgrade its infrastructure.

FDI IN TOURISM
In the game of being the best economy of the world, every country plays their cards wisely.
GDP acts as the measuring index of the economy. It also helps in gauging and tells us how a
country is performing among other countries around the world Tourism industry is
becoming a thing in INDIA because of beautiful tourist locations and diversity of the country.
As GDP is getting healthy as the time passes, it is important to focus on strengthening
Transportation, Roads etc. as Good Infrastructure plays an important role in attracting
tourists from all over the globe which will eventually help in boosting tourism in INDIA.
Tourism industry is directly linked with the hotel industry of the country. Government of
India Launched ‘Incredible India’ campaign in the year 2002 which highlighted beauty of the
country to overseas tourist. Over the last 20 years India has successfully transformed itself
into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The number of international
traveller’s increased by 16% in the year 2005. 100% of Foreign direct investment is
permitted in hotel and tourism industry, US has 32 billion dollars business in Indian tourism
industry which reflects 5.3% of India’s total GDP. Many International hotel chains are
looking forwards to set up their organisation in India. Hospitality giants such as Hilton,
Accor, Marriott International and InterContinental Hotels group are looking forward to
launch major ventures in upcoming years.
Hotel and Tourism Industry in India
Hotel and tourism Industry are booming in India in recent years, which is resulting in
increase of revenue from international tourist as well as domestic tourist. Travel and
tourism is responsible for generating 3rd largest source of foreign exchange it also
plays a vital role in employment, Tourism industry in India is considered as one of
the major employment source for the country out of the total population 12.38%
people work for tourism industry which is approximately 81.1 million people
according to the report which was released in the year 2017-2018. The country is
slowly emerging as 2nd biggest tourism economy in the world and by the year 2020,
India will be the leader with approximately 8.9 million overseas tourist arrivals every
year which is claimed by World Travel & Tourism.

Define Business Travellers, Segments

Every second’s thousands of business travellers are either ending or beginning their trip,
Business travellers usually travel across the globe for business purposes they represent their
organisation in different companies. The term ‘Business travel’ simply means travellers who
travel for business purposes from one place to other on behalf of the corporation.
Generally, the travel expenses are financed by the corporation itself. Tourism in many urban
destinations such as London, New York and Mumbai etc has it own physical facility such as
convention and exhibition centres are fully mechanized it provides safety and security along
with premium quality services. Business Segment of the company can be identified by
products or services from which company deals with it can also be based on the
geographical location where the company operates , Managements of this company often
divides their business into different segments as it helps the company to understand which
section is doing well and which is not. As an organisation starts gaining exposure their
expectations also increase along with it. Same phenomena apply with business travellers, as
brand value of the company increases, the company starts gaining exposure globally and
expectations of the travellers also increases.

Needs, wants and expectations

In hotel industry hoteliers need to understand about their guest expectations, Guests
travel for different purposes some travel for business work and other for leisure these
customers have different needs, wants and expectations. Let’s understand the
difference between needs, wants, and expectations.
 Need simply means ‘a state of being insufficient’. For example, guest may
feel like going on vacation because they haven’t been on vacation since long
time.
  Wants means ‘Satisfying own needs”. For example, Guest feels like having a
vacation and they go on a vacation.
 Expectations are the extent to which you think your needs and wants will be
satisfied. For example, guest may feel like going on a vacation will help them
reducing stress from work.
Business travellers have totally different mindset if compared to leisure travellers,
they have to complete lot of work in short period of time. They require basic services
such as high-speed internet connection etc. Whereas leisure travellers are looking
for relaxing services such as spa, massages and other services which are offered by
the hotel.

Product Innovation and Customer satisfaction

For a successful hotel business hotel needs to step up their game in modern
technology.
 Automated ‘Check in and check out’: -Long ques during check in can be
devastating for the guest, Innovative Hotel apps helps guest to check in and
checkout from their mobiles. Marriotts.Inc has introduced their own mobile
app which helps the guest to check in and check out.
 Chatbots: - Introducing this feature will help your guest to interact with the
hotel, Chat bots can also be used for check-in and checkout.
 VR Play: - Now a days instead of hotel brochure some hotels invest in vr360
videos. With the help of such videos guest can get virtual experience of room
and hotel services. It becomes easier for the hotel to attract guest with help of
such videos.
 Therefore, if hotels upgraded their brand with such technology it becomes easier
to attract guests which results in maximizing their profit. It becomes easier for the
guest to check-in and avoid hectic ques. Guests can directly interact with the
hotel with the help of chat bots. Virtual reality videos can help guest in directions
to different outlets of the hotel. These factors can help in creating good
relationship with guest which eventually helps in customer satisfaction.

ISSUES WITH THE MEETING INDUSTRY, FUTURE

CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES
Over the past years ‘THE MICE’ is one of the main drivers inside the tourism industry
and it has also experienced essential growth over the past few years. The future of
this industry looks bright because of increasing demand in Meeting, incentives,
congresses and event is climbing daily. As every coin has two sides as things
develop challenges occur. Some of the biggest challenges faced by mice industry
are as follows
 Virtual
meetin
g vs
Destin
ation
meetin
g:
-Virtual
meetin
g are
more
econo
mical
compa
red to
destina
tion
meetin
g.
Someti
mes
becaus
e of
bad
networ
k, you
have
to
attend
meetin
g in
person
, other
times
you
attend
the
confer
ence
just
becaus
e of
you
are
interes
ted in
certain
topic.
Howev
er,
 plannin
g for
both
types
of
meetin
g is
somet
hing
that
MICE
should
work
on.

 In the
modern
world
of
technol
ogy
expecta
tion of
event
attende
es
Also
increase
s. They
want to
be able
 to book
their
flight
ticket,
hotel
rooms,
event
tickets
from
the
online
apps
using
their
mobile
phones
right at
their
fingerti
ps.

 On the
other
hand,
hotels
need to
step up
their
game
and
improve
technol
ogies.
Every
hotel
must
have
good
Wi-Fi
connec
tion and
internet
access,
logistics
with
meeting
planner
and
broker
compan
ies in
order to
reduce
mistake
s.
References
Author: John Swarbrooke And Susan Horner. Pages: 377 Size: 5.43 MB Format: PDF Publisher: Routledge Ltd
Published: 23 May, 2012/Page no 3
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consumer-business/us-consumer-
2019-us-travel-and-hospitality-outlook.pdf

Author: Guy Langford, Adam F. Weissenberg

https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/india-s-mice-tourism-growing-at-8-pc-a-year-
ficci-yes-bank-report-119050500122_1.html

https://www.globalstartravel.com/location/india-international-travel-house/

https://www.india-briefing.com/news/fdi-indias-tourism-industry-4657.html/

https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/accounting-dictionary/business-segment

https://www.trilyo.com/blog/service-quality-customer-satisfaction-in-the-hotel-industry/

https://congressbookers.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/3-big-challenges-issues-facing-the-mice-
industry/