Respondents with a global footprint think that big data, the global economy and IATA’s New Distribution Capability standard will have a major impact on their global travel programmes.

Data security and mobile technology will have the biggest impact on corporate travel in 2015, according to the Carlson Wagonlit Travel annual travel manager survey.

The study involved more than 1,100 travel managers and highlighted other key trends such as the sharing economy and travel behaviour of the millennial generation.

This year CWT has created an interactive website so that travel managers can benchmark what they expect to be next year’s trends against the expectations of their peers.

Respondents with a global footprint think that big data, the global economy and IATA’s New Distribution Capability standard will have a major impact on their global travel programmes.

Regional travel managers selected particular topics which they felt were more significant in their regions:

• In Asia-Pacific, travel managers ranked low-cost carriers higher than any other region in terms of having an impact on their travel programmes.

• Travel managers in EMEA selected corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a significant trend compared with other regions.

• In Latin America, travel managers recognised the global economy, political context and sharing economy as highly impactful trends.

• Compared with other regions, travel managers in North America stated that mobile technology would have a major impact on their travel programmes.

David Moran, executive vice president, global marketing and enterprise strategy at CWT, said:

“We saw a 9% increase in responses this year, giving us more insight than ever into the trends that will affect our industry next year.

“This helps us focus our development on a range of innovative products and services to help our clients across the world make the most of their travel programmes, whatever their priorities are in 2015.”

CWT’s annual travel manager survey, October-November 2014, was conducted with business travel and M&E professionals worldwide across a range of industries.

CWT received a total of 1,113 responses, comprising 515 companies in 56 countries.