Nearly one-third (30%) of buyers plan to reevaluate or change their travel management company in 2025, with 39% citing dissatisfaction with TMC technology and 37% citing service quality concerns as key reasons.
One in five specifically mention their TMC’s difficulty with NDC bookings as a reason for considering a switch.
These were some of the findings based on 786 responses from global travel buyers, suppliers and other industry professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific between January 21-31 2025, in the latest GBTA survey.
The survey also found that travel supplier, TMC and tech companies are hiring, with 41% of supplier and TMC respondents planning to add staff this year.
But North America lags behind, with 35% of supplier/TMC respondents expecting their company to add staff this year, compared to 45% of European suppliers and TMCs.
Key barriers facing the industry in finding qualified candidates include unattractive salaries (54%), inadequate budgets for new roles (40%) and a growing demand for remote work (42%).
Nearly half (47%) of supplier and TMC respondents cite remote work preferences as a key barrier, indicating a widening gap between workforce expectations and employer policies.
Even though half of GBTA stakeholders say their companies have not changed their policies from 2024, 32% report their companies are requiring employees to be in the office more often.
Supplier/TMC respondents (34%) are about equally likely as buyers (31%) to say their company implemented stricter work-from-home policies over the past year.
However, a GBTA Business Travel Outlook Poll in January 2024 showed suppliers and TMCs had stricter policies to begin with.
Hybrid work schedules are most prevalent in Europe, where 77% of business travel professionals report their company has a hybrid work policy for 2025, followed by APAC (62%), LATAM (58%) and NORAM (51%).
