Talking shop at the business conferences with Daniel Price CEO and founder of Jyrney

THE PAST FEW WEEKS HAVE SEEN SOME important dates in the business travel calendar. First up on April 27-28 was the Institute of Travel Management (ITM) Accelerate Conference in Birmingham, the industry’s largest gathering of travel buyers. This was followed by The Advantage Travel Partnership Conference in Madeira from April 29 to May 1. Advantage is the largest consortium of independent travel agents in the UK.

Across both conferences there were many shared themes: the recovery of business travel demand; a shortage of talent and people; and a keen focus on sustainability. In the private hire industry we can identify with these themes as they mirror some of our own as we too seek a path to normality following the impact of the past two years.

At the ITM, industry leaders expressed how surprised they were at how quickly business travel was returning. I only need to look at my own diary over the next few months to see trips to Manchester, Milton Keynes and London for various events including the LPHCA conference, the Business Travel Show and the Move 2022 conference (see you there – Ed).

The return to travel has certainly put pressure on our customers and partners in business travel. The struggle with reduced driver numbers is being felt across business travel and I am regularly asked for solutions to late pick-ups, handbacks and unavailability of vehicles.

Travel Management Companies (TMCs) are looking to private hire to connect their passengers to other travel modes. Finding a way to fulfil these business travel jobs now will help secure a long-term future for private hire within the supply chain for the TMCs.

Carbon reduction was a consistent theme underlined by a TED-style talk from Mark Corbett at Thrust Carbon, highlighting the key to any carbon reduction programme – the availability of great data. The starting point is the ability to report on CO 2 and then use the information to reduce and remove carbon emissions from travel programmes.

We are lucky in ground transport to be blessed with accurate CO 2 data, but offsetting and ultimately a move to zero emission vehicles will assist our business travel customers achieve their net zero goals.

Some fleets operate hybrid and zero emission vehicles in standard categories, making them indistinguishable from petrol or diesel vehicles. However, if an operator wants to service corporate passengers, then creating these separate groups to be bookable via integration will increase the appeal to the business traveller.

The message from the TMCs I met at the conferences was clear and consistent. They see a significant opportunity to build sustainable ground transport more firmly into their offering. They are looking for more connected solutions for their corporate clients and we are working to ensure that the Jyrney platform can integrate connections to private hire and taxi operators.

Daniel Price is CEO and founder of Jyrney. Daniel.price@jyrney.com — www.jyrney.com