CORPORATE Traveller, the small business travel group, has unveiled what it calls ‘the ultimate SME Travel Toolkit’ to give small business owners a helping hand as they adapt to the ‘new normal’ and begin travelling again.

As the backbone and lifeblood of the Australian economy, SMEs are playing a central role in fuelling post-pandemic recovery and spearheading the return of the business traveller, according to Tom Walley, Corporate Traveller’s global managing director.

He said Corporate Traveller was already seeing a positive trajectory for early 2022 with a significant uplift in bookings, boosted by the Federal Government’s recent decision to reopen the international borders.

This indicated there was a strong desire for in-person meetings and gatherings for successful business development, customer retention, and networking, Mr Walley said. 

Mr Walley said as the dominant player in the SME travel space – “which counts over 1,500 team members serving over 4,000 Australian customers and more than 16,000 globally” – Corporate Traveller has tapped three decades of industry expertise to compile this easy-to-digest complimentary resource.

Available to read and download via the Corporate Traveller website, the 10-part monthly series tackles the most pressing concerns for SMEs.

Mr Walley said the SME Travel Toolkit would also set out to address the myths of managed travel programs by taking readers through the benefits of “enlisting a business travel pro you can trust and rely upon”.

Mr Walley said many business leaders were faced with a new set of challenges, “especially when trying to navigate international travel in the pandemic-era”.

“Travel today can be an overwhelming experience,” Mr Walley said. “The world has changed, which for budget conscious SMEs, has created a more confusing environment especially for those who previously handled their own travel and simply don’t know where to start.

“With international borders reopened in Australia and travel restrictions easing around the world, the desire to travel and connect face-to-face has increased for businesses … as have complications.

“Through our new SME Travel Toolkit, we’ve set out to share our deep industry knowledge to help small business owners decide how to plan and travel easily and safely.”

With the first and second chapters launching in Australia in March 2022, he said readers could expect to benefit from a variety of educational assets to help improve and inform their business travel choices.

“From providing guidance on how to craft the perfect policy to securing the best rates, controlling, and tracking spending to keeping your people safe, Corporate Traveller promises to discuss the issues that are troubling SMEs while offering practical advice,” Mr Walley said.

In keeping with the company’s customer-centric approach, the SME Travel Toolkit will also share details of real-life client issues resolved with Corporate Traveller’s help and support. Useful checklists and other downloadable tools will be offered too.

While Corporate Traveller envisages this content would mostly appeal to growing businesses that typically organise their own travel, it may also benefit companies looking for advice as they reconsider their own programs in the year ahead.

“No two clients are alike – nor too large or small for our assistance,” Mr Walley said.

“With the SME Travel Toolkit series, we’re helping businesses identify the best route and resources needed to maximise their productivity and savings without cutting corners or compromising on safety as they propel their businesses forward in this changed world.”

The first and second chapters in the monthly series are ready to view now. To access and receive subsequent chapters by e-mail, sign up to the following link:

https://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/insights/resources/sme-corporate-travel-toolkit#form

https://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/

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TOURISM BUSINESSES across Australia are poised to welcome back international visitors from Monday, February 21, following 23 months of border closures which have brought much of the tourism export industry to a standstill. 

“This is an important day for our industry and the first, but most important step in getting Australian tourism back on its feet,” Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) managing director Peter Shelley said.

“While the industry has endured a huge hit, the next 12 months will be the hardest for tourism owners as they work to rebuild once profitable businesses, having shed staff and depleted working capital and in many cases taken out loans to survive the last two years."

ATEC’s latest Industry Pulse survey revealed international in-market sellers of Australian travel have been reporting significant concern from consumers lacking confidence to book their travel to Australia.  

“While the government has invested in global advertising to drive demand to return to Australia, there are worrying signs consumers are wary of travelling here with confusion over our various state travel restrictions and concern about snap border closures," Mr Shelley said.

“Australia is a long-haul, aspirational destination and people are concerned by what they have heard in the media about confusing state entry requirements and isolation protocols should they get covid while here.

“While the industry is looking forward to welcoming back international visitors and rebuilding our tourism brand, there is a huge and complex runway to navigate and we need a multitude of factors to line up including access to skilled staff, a consistent approach to covid protocols and ease of movement between states, along with international tourism trade educational programs and targeted advertising campaigns.

“Our financially fragile tourism export sector is now starting to cautiously emerge from the greatest challenge ever faced, having lost hundreds of quality business and thousands of valuable staff," he said.

“Right now, as we welcome back visitors, it will be critical that both State and Federal Governments present a clear message to the global travel community that Australia is once again reopening its borders to the world and remain the welcoming, high-quality destination we are famous for.

“We cannot afford to allow inconsistent regulations around the management of covid to create confusion and erode the confidence of intending travellers," Mr Shelley said.

“Now more than ever we need united government leadership to remove obstacles impeding the recovery of our $45 billion tourism export sector.” 

Other data from ATEC’s Industry Pulse reveals:  

• Confusion around varying state border requirements is creating booking hesitation;
• Businesses don’t expect to see a significant flow of international visitors before October 2022;
• Top recovery markets are expected to be UK, Western Europe, the US and Singapore;
• Tourism supplier businesses are operating, on average, at 50 percent or less capacity compared with 2019;
• Inbound Tour Operators are, on average, are operating at 30 percent or less capacity compared with 2019.

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CORPORATE TRAVELLER can now have its extended online booking functionality working for small and medium businesses (SMEs) in just 24 hours.

Called CT.GO, the portal’s new functionality enables businesses that partner with Corporate Traveller to implement their own online bookings through the portal from the next business day.

Or, if a business has specific travel needs, customers can select a more customised solution.

Corporate Traveller general manager Tom Walley said the new online booking solution “was a winner” with SMEs that wanted a quick and easy online booking solution that comes with all of Corporate Traveller’s premium business travel products.

“This is a fully-integrated online travel booking solution for businesses that want to book trips with minimal fuss,” Mr Walley said. “Your business and travellers will have full access to our global travel network by the next business day.

“Not only does CT.GO fast-track the onboarding process, but the solution means customers also get to use our AI-powered online booking tool Savi, our award-winning mobile app Sam – and they get a slick and easy-to-navigate user interface.

“It’s one platform with single sign-on for all your travel needs that can be rolled out rapidly and at no cost.” 

CT.GO allows partnering business travellers and bookers to manage all aspects of their travel. This includes being able to manage or view profiles, passport details, rewards and frequent flyer programs, travel alerts, travel invoices and expense reports.

Mr Walley said key features of CT.GO included free, next business day implementation; intuitive user interface for simple, fast, and easy management of travel bookings; full integration with Qantas Business Rewards and Accelerate for air travel savings and benefits; easy access to all Corporate Traveller’s negotiated SmartSTAY and SmartDRIVE rates to ensure customers are saving on accommodation and car hire; and efficient payment options that can be tailored to a business’s billing cycle.

“CT.GO is an excellent solution for businesses with decentralised travel programs in that the onboarding process could be as quick and easy as customers required, with a fast self-registration process for staff travellers and bookers,” Mr Walley said.

“Or if companies wanted more hands-on training this also was provided. CT.GO is a cost and time efficient solution for businesses with simple travel needs but who still want access to all the bells and whistles technology that we offer.”

https://corporatetraveller.com.au

MAINTAINING international border closures is no longer a viable or sensible approach to containing COVID-19 infection and is simply damaging the recovery of a range of important industries including tourism, hospitality and farming, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) said today. 

“Australia now has a higher COVID infection rate than the UK and the US but we continue to maintain our border closures to these international visitors, applying huge economic stress to businesses across the country,” ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said.

“Given every person arriving in Australia has to be fully vaccinated and tested, there simply is no greater health risk which would result from reopening our international borders, rather it would provide a huge relief to an already burdened and struggling tourism sector.

“The hermit kingdom approach to protecting our borders is no longer viable and we need urgent clarity from the (Federal) Government on when we can welcome international visitors, and it needs to be immediate." 

Mr Shelley said tourism businesses have now suffered though almost two years of stifled conditions with internationally focused products seeing no customers since March 2020.

“Opening our borders would bring in desperately needed workers, reconnect people with their families and provide a lifeline to our tourism industry which has copped a lot over the last two years.," Mr Shelley said.

“In every way we have joined the rest of the world in taking on COVID as part of our day to day lives and we now need to remove the last pretence of a barrier and accept that Australia has to re-engage with the global travel community by fully reopening or international borders.

“We are calling on the Government to urgently announce the date when we can once again welcome international visitors and give our tourism industry a chance to capture some of the current peak booking period by international travellers before it’s too late."

www.atec.net.au

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