The travel industry is well known for combining words to express a new trend or experience – think of bleisure, glamping, babymoons, etc. Covid-19 saw new words like ‘social distancing’, ‘self-quarantine’, ‘super-spreader’ and ‘contact tracing’ added to the dictionary.
2021 ended with the Omicron-induced travel bans reducing international travel to South Africa just when the country was hoping for a bumper holiday season to boost the ailing tourism sector.
Companies are increasingly searching for integrated travel management solutions to meet their specific needs. We partnered with our client to build customised processes and solutions, specifically targeting integration points to streamline processes, improve efficiency and drive savings.
Just as the travel industry was starting to recover from the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, the announcement of a new Covid variant under investigation in South Africa has dealt a massive blow to the country.
It seems today that as one country re-opens for travel, another closes or changes its entry rules. Even domestically, planning a basic trip has become more complicated. The endless changes are daunting for even the most experienced travellers.
As the world gets its balance back and employees start returning to work, one thing is clear – employees have missed human contact and personal interaction. We surveyed some of our travellers earlier this year, and 85% of clients expect their companies to retain a hybrid working model.
Our client required a highly bespoke consultant service but wanted a solution to streamline and automate processes in the travel ecosystem. We built customised processes and platform integrations to create a more automated workflow, while enhancing the traveller experience.
BEFORE YOU GO Get the most up-to-date information on country Covid stats, restrictions, vaccination and quarantine requirements. Check here Make sure you have the correct documentation. As a minimum you need: a valid passport, E-Ticket and boarding pass, Valid visa for arrival destination (if applicable), Quarantine arrangements upon arrival (if applicable), Completed Exit Health Form, Negative COVID-19 test. (You can
The race to innovate and digitise travel has always been competitive. While the events of 2020 put the entire value chain under pressure, the travel industry has always been resilient and used the challenge to accelerate innovation in digitisation, develop new technologies and enhance business models to get business back on track. Here are the three biggest drivers of change:
Travel and visas go hand in hand. And if truth be told, obtaining a visa to travel is a tricky experience at the best of times. Add to this the fact that many business trips are affected by constantly changing travel restrictions, and the main challenge for travellers today is how to get a visa in time. Covid-19 complications Covid
Like travel, face-to-face meetings and events were among the greatest casualties of the pandemic. But as travel restrictions start to relax across the globe, meetings and events are starting to regain traction. Despite this, travel rules are regularly changing, so there is a risk that delegates may not be able to travel at the time of the event. As a result,
Challenge With the added complexity of travelling post Covid, our client, a Global company operating in 27 countries, asked us to improve pre-trip approval to ensure the safety of their travellers. While there are various approval tools in the market, the client required a bespoke solution to meet their business needs. Approach Pre-Covid the client had workflow approval in place.
Next to air travel, accommodation usually makes up the bulk of the business travel budget. But what has changed post-COVID? And what are the best practices for optimising your business hotel program now that it’s become more dynamic? Here we discuss what we feel is the best path for sourcing and driving intelligent buying decisions. Sourcing Strategy It is doubtful
In the past year, the global pandemic and resultant economic crisis have changed nearly every industry. In terms of the travel industry, COVID-19 has devastated the airline sector and forever changed consumer behaviour. Airlines will be required to rebuild their business models in order to survive, and whilst they grapple with how to re-build, there are three key areas predicted
Since the dawn of the Internet made it easy for travellers to book their own travel, “the end of travel agents” has been predicted. But that hasn’t happened. In fact, 43% of travellers still choose to use a Travel Management Company (TMC) when booking flights.* This may seem old-fashioned, but while technology helps make routine travel tasks easier – which
Challenge Our customer, a global packaging company selected Rennies BCD Travel as their new travel management company (TMC) in South Africa.The company asked us to migrate them from a traditional service to an online booking tool (OBT). To simplify the travel program, they also wanted to integrate their existing travel and expense tools. These systems worked independently of each other
In South Africa, 09 August holds great significance for our nation as we celebrate women’s achievements on this day. It is also a day to remind us of gender equality. The tourism sector* has been a female-dominated environment for many years, with Travel Management Companies leading the way. For example, at Rennies BCD Travel, over 80% of our workforce is
There is no denying how the global environment improved when the world went into lockdown in 2020, which is why Covid-19 has taken sustainable business travel practices from being an important consideration to an essential one. Interestingly, aviation’s contribution to climate change – 3.5% of warming, or 2.5% of CO2 emissions – is less than one would think. Be that
The key objective of the EU Digital COVID Certificate is to facilitate free movement inside the European Union by allowing those who hold one to be exempt from quarantine or testing requirements when crossing a border into a participating country. The EU Digital Covid Certificate officially launched on 01 July 2021 and will remain valid until Jun 2022. The certificate
Nothing in the history of the world has fast-tracked the adoption of digital solutions like the COVID-19 crisis has. It changed human movement patterns, forced industries to re-evaluate their efficacy, challenged traditional ways of life and created an opportunity for previously reluctant sectors to embrace change and evolve. For years travel technology has been evolving to make travel more seamless
The COVID pandemic has resulted in a swathe of strict safety measures being implemented in airports across the globe, most of which are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Travellers have entirely embraced the need for social distancing measures, wearing masks, temperature checks, and COVID testing as a pre-requisite to a safe (not to mention healthy) journey. But if
Duty of care is a simple concept. Employers must help keep their travellers safe and healthy whether in the office or on the road. In the wake of Covid-19, having a duty of care policy is no longer an option but a necessity. It’s worrying, then, that a GBTA survey found that 46% of UK and USA business travellers work
Navigating travel has always had its challenges, but since Covid, a new era of travel has been defined. With vaccinations proceeding at breakneck speeds, travel rules around the world are changing equally fast. With borders opening and airlines ramping up capacity, travellers face new questions and concerns. What is my health risk? Do I have to self-quarantine? What if a
With travel risks and requirements changing by the minute, real-time information is a must-have for confident decision-making. Pre-COVID-19 programs focused primarily on two phases of the trip cycle: the booking process and the actual journey. Now there are new areas of focus that are just as, if not more, important. The first is the decision phase, where a traveller looks
Tourism accounts for 9% of South Africa’s GDP and contributes over R2 trillion to the African continent’s economy. As one of the most mature digital commerce sectors, the Travel and Tourism industry is at the sharp edge of global technology and economic shifts. The fact that travel ground to a halt globally because of COVID-19 has irrevocably highlighted this. In
The COVID-19 pandemic has refocussed the spotlight on sustainable business practices. Choosing a carbon-neutral partner is expected to become an essential consideration in supply chains to help companies reach their sustainability goals in the coming decades. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), aviation contributes about 2-3% of the world’s global human-induced carbon emissions. When it comes to travel,
For years travel management teams have applied the same formula for driving travel savings. One thing is for sure, doing more of the same won’t deliver the supplier savings you hope for. A recent study conducted with travel managers across different industries established that 84% of companies currently allow only essential travel. Historically supplier negotiations used a volume-based contract model,
You would think that in the era of the internet, wi-fi and mobile phones, staying in touch is easier than it’s ever been. The reality is that communicating with travellers in other countries still has its challenges. Add to this the unpredictable environment post-COVID-19 and travellers need more responsive support than ever before. A recent BCD survey* asked what type
As travel restarts post-Covid, Travel Managers are better positioned to assess what will work best for them in the future, considering the lessons learned from the pandemic. Before COVID-19, many business travellers booked their journeys outside the company’s travel policy program. In the future Program Managers will need to ensure that employees align more closely with their companies preferred channels to
Boarding the plane is often the last of many steps in the business traveller’s journey. Before travellers get to this point, ensuring their safety has become a complex process. Even before COVID-19, Duty of Care was high on the priority list for most businesses. Add to that the challenge of navigating the pandemic’s constantly changing travel restrictions and it is
A year after the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the world, the travel industry is slowly starting to regain momentum. While tourism to South Africa has dropped dramatically, domestic travel has reached up to 25% of pre-Covid level travel volumes – almost double that of regional and international air travel volumes, according to South African Tourism’s Road to Recovery report published in
Our recent Linkedin survey revealed that over 50% of travellers currently prefer to attend business meetings via a video conference rather than in-persons, and this view is supported by our global survey. Here’s what we know now, courtesy of BCD Meetings & Events. The return of face-to face meetings ‘Studies show that face-to-face conversation is an important aspect of a
COVID-19 has flipped airline contracting models on their head. In the new travel landscape volume-based models no longer exist simply because travel has been forced to a grinding halt. Add to this the fact that fares are expected to increase because fleet capacity is reduced and sustainability depends on inevitable alliances, it stands to reason that airlines must find creative new
If you are planning to travel internationally, you will have to provide a certificate confirming that you have tested negative for COVID-19 and the test cannot be taken more than 72 hours before arrival at your destination. Your health comes first and that is why Rennies BCD Travel is making the experience easier for you. We have expanded our home
Business travel programs have historically focused on controlling costs. But in the chaos, the Covid-19 virus highlighted the importance of protecting the workforce. This has resulted in a major shift to duty of care and traveller wellbeing. How does this change your preferred supplier agreements? Based on a recent BCD Travel survey, the majority of Travel Managers are re-negotiating existing