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Ctrip whitepaper: Chinese outbound business travel grows over 30% for 3 years

Ctrip Corporate Travel whitepaper shows China's business travel market is expected to grow 9.3% in 2026, with domestic travel trending to lower-tier cities. Cross-border orders for Chinese companies have grown over 30% for three consecutive years, with SME outbound orders up 78% in 2025. Destinations are shifting from traditional developed markets to Belt and Road countries, with Vietnam rising in importance. Cross-border travel management is entering the execution phase, with payment and settlement issues prominent.

SAP Concur launches Booking Agent and consumer-grade travel features at GBTA 2025

SAP Concur announced new features at the GBTA Convention in Denver, including the Booking Agent conversational booking tool that generates policy-compliant itineraries, available to early adopters in August with general availability planned for Q4. Concur Request adds budget authorization supporting single requests covering multiple trips or employees, plus travel advisories powered by Riskline. Trip Extras offers third-party travel services, initially ground transportation with Groundspan, available to early adopters in August with general availability planned for Q4.

How E-receipts Are Transforming Expense Management

SAP Concur published an article on e-receipts in expense management. Citing a GBTA study, nearly half of all paper receipts get lost or discarded before being recorded. E-receipts streamline reporting, improve accuracy, and reduce administrative burden through digital processes. The article states businesses using Concur Expense report a 32% reduction in approval times and save an average of $54,000 annually on administrative costs. ACFE data shows businesses lose up to 5% of revenue to fraud annually, while T&E spending can account for 10-12% of annual budget.

Concur Travel Becomes the First Booking Tool to Offer ISO 14083-assured Emissions Data

SAP Concur announced that the new Concur Travel has become the first online booking tool to integrate emissions calculations assured to the ISO 14083 standard, made possible through a partnership with Thrust Carbon. ISO 14083 provides a single, globally recognized framework for calculating greenhouse gas emissions across all transportation modes and aligns with climate initiatives such as the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). CSRD mandates emissions reporting for over 50,000 companies globally starting in 2025. The GBTA 2024 Sustainability Benchmark found an average sustainability maturity score of 1.3 out of 5 across 241 assessed organizations.

SAP Retains #1 with 49.6% Share in 2023 T&E Management Software Market

SAP Concur announced that according to IDC, SAP retained the No. 1 ranking with 49.6% of 2023 market share for travel and expense management software, up from 49.4% in 2022. GBTA data shows global business travel spending reached $1.03 trillion at the end of 2022, 72% of the $1.43 trillion pre-pandemic high. GBTA's 2024 outlook projects global spending will reach a record $1.48 trillion by the end of 2024. In the past year, more than 1 billion expense line items were processed in Concur Expense. SAP experienced 14% year-over-year revenue growth in 2023.

SAP Concur Releases Business Travel Management Tools and Survey Data

SAP Concur released business travel management tools during the GBTA Convention and published results from its sixth annual Global Business Travel Survey of 600 travel managers across six markets. The survey found 99% say their job will be more challenging in the next 12 months, 37% say delivering high-quality programs despite increased stress is difficult, and 31% struggle to remain motivated due to feeling undervalued. 21% are likely to seek a travel manager position at a different company, and 20% may seek a role outside travel management. SAP Concur also released Concur Expense data: average airfare expense was $770 in 2023, up 10% from $698 in 2019; average gasoline expense transaction…

The Trends Shaping a Business Travel Power Shift

SAP Concur President Charlie Sultan writes that rising business travel demand, increasing costs, and NDC adoption are shifting power from TMCs and customers to suppliers. Citing GBTA, 59% of travel managers expect more business trips in 2024, and 67% expect higher travel spend.

SAP Concur Unveils New Concur Travel Experience, Deepens GDS Integration

SAP Concur unveiled new Concur Travel experiences at the GBTA Convention, including an end-to-end booking experience for Sabre GDS from U.S. point of sale, with plans to extend to Amadeus and Travelport+ in 2024. The new experience offers consumer-grade UX, richer content including NDC, sustainability options, omni-search, and integration with Concur Expense. Concur Travel bookings are up 8% from Q2 2022.

SAP Concur: How AI Will Transform T&E

SAP Concur published a blog on AI applications in travel and expense (T&E) management. It cites IDC data that 45% of businesses see opportunities for AI to improve payments, expense management, and analytics. SAP Concur's Verify uses AI to automatically audit expense reports, and ExpenseIt reduced returned reports from 14% to 1.2%. In 2022, $1.6 billion in spending exceptions went unexamined, while Verify automatically audited 97% of 2.8 million reports between January 2022 and June 2023.

SAP Concur Unveils New Experiences for Concur Travel

At the GBTA Convention, SAP Concur announced a major evolution of Concur Travel, introducing a new end-to-end booking experience for air, hotel, and car rental on Sabre GDS from U.S. point of sale, with Amadeus and Travelport+ planned for 2024. The new experience emphasizes a consumer-grade UX, NDC content integration, sustainability options, and seamless integration with Concur Expense.

SAP Concur Releases 2023 Travel Priorities Predictions for Business Leaders

A SAP Concur blog post shares predictions for business leaders' travel priorities in 2023. Citing an early 2022 SAP Concur pulse survey, it notes that 88% of U.S. finance managers said their company experienced a revenue loss in 2021 as a direct result of employees' inability to travel at pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, the GBTA CWT Global Business Travel Forecast 2023 report found that the cost per event attendee is expected to be around 32% higher in 2023 than in 2019. The article advises companies to weigh the costs and benefits of their travel programs and balance saving money with positioning for growth when the economy stabilizes.

SAP Concur Re-platforms Concur Travel to Build the Travel Platform of the Future

SAP Concur announced it is re-platforming Concur Travel, rebuilding it from scratch with microservices technology to improve scalability, reliability, and flexibility. Over the past two years it added more than 200 engineers and product managers, one of the most significant development investments in its history. The roadmap includes a new car rental experience by end-2022, an end-to-end hotel booking experience in early 2023, a new air experience around GBTA Convention 2023, and additional rail carriers in Europe and the US. SAP Concur says it has the only truly integrated global T&E platform, serving 50,000+ customers with 700+ ecosystem partners.

What are Supplier-Direct Bookings, and Do They Impact Your Travel Program?

An SAP Concur blog post citing a GBTA report notes that 37% of hotel reservations and 15% of air reservations are invisible—made directly with suppliers or through online travel agencies. These percentages remain the same between companies with flexible and strict travel policies. Currently, 80% of travel programs do not use technology to capture supplier-direct bookings. Drivers include convenience, low-cost carriers and discounts, and the sharing economy. The article recommends bringing direct bookings under management by automatically capturing bookings from connected suppliers or encouraging employees to send booking information, to improve policy compliance, duty of care, savings, and…

The duty of caring for your employees

This SAP Concur article emphasizes the duty of care for employees amid global uncertainty. It notes business travel is expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2020, discusses travel risks, remote worker safety, and how technology can help fulfill duty of care obligations.

Impact and considerations

Provides a framework for travel risk management, emphasizing legal and moral duty of care, and the role of technology.

Automating Expense Report Processing: Saving Time and Money

An SAP Concur blog post cites GBTA data to highlight the high cost of manual expense report processing, with an average cost of $58 per report and 19% of reports containing errors. The article recommends automating workflows, integrating with accounting systems, and implementing corporate card policies to reduce manual effort, improve data accuracy, lower costs, and increase employee satisfaction.

Travel Managers See More Travel and Expanded Roles

A SAP Concur blog post notes that U.S. companies are restarting domestic travel to varying degrees, while international travel remains business-critical and requires special approvals. Travel managers from Harman, ServiceNow, and Barclays, speaking at the SAP Concur Travel Industry Summit, said employees are eager to resume face-to-face interactions, but approval processes are stricter, involving senior management and security officers. Companies are enhancing communication through internal microsites, travel portal prompts, and personalized outreach, while integrating sustainability into travel policies. The role of travel managers has been elevated during the pandemic, taking on more resp…

Taming the Wild West of Corporate Travel: A Win-Win for Travel Expense and Finance Leaders

A SAP Concur blog post notes corporate travel spend is getting harder to manage: travelers book via mobile apps and supplier websites, and new distribution channels fragment booking and cost data. GBTA data shows 77% of businesses are not completely confident they can quickly and accurately locate business travelers in an emergency. Compared with five years ago, experienced travel managers spend 66% more time on data and analysis reporting, 66% more on evaluating or implementing new technology, 60% more on traveler safety and duty of care, and 52% more on cross-department meetings or collaboration. The article recommends finance and travel program leaders work together to deploy solutions t…

Why Business Travel Safety Is Different for Women

A SAP Concur blog post cites a 2018 AIG Travel and GBTA survey finding that 71% of female business travelers believe they face greater risk than their male counterparts. 83% of surveyed women experienced a safety-related event within the past year, and 80% said those events impacted their work productivity. Fewer than 50% of women report personal safety incidents to their organizations. A GBTA Foundation survey found 43% of travel managers can locate all affected employees within two hours in an emergency, while 34% do not know how long it would take.

Impact and considerations

There is a significant gap between perceived and actual safety risks for female business travelers, with low reporting rates. Corporate duty of care policies span HR, travel, security, and legal departments and should be updated to reflect the growing female traveler population. Gaps remain in travel managers' ability…

Report: Traveler Expectations are Growing. Here's How Businesses Should Respond

SAP Concur and GBTA researched business traveler booking behavior. The study found that two-thirds of travelers with mandated policies book through alternative channels. 40% expect to use OTAs more, and 37% expect to book directly more. Additionally, 24-37% expect the organization to be responsible for their safety on leisure days.

Delta Joins Concur TripLink to Bring Greater Transparency to Corporate Customers

At GBTA 2018, SAP Concur announced that Delta Air Lines joined the Concur TripLink network. With TripLink, companies can automatically capture bookings made directly with Delta outside Concur Travel, enabling spend visibility, policy application, and duty of care. This collaboration aims to enhance transparency and choice for corporate customers.

SAP Concur Outlines Four Business Imperatives for Travel Risk Management

A SAP Concur blog post argues that business travel inherently carries risk and that companies have legal and moral duties to develop travel risk management (TRM) policies to fulfill duty-of-care obligations. It outlines four reasons: liability issues, increasing business travel, lower-impact risks and business risks.

Impact and considerations

For travel managers, the article signals that TRM policies affect not only employee safety but also corporate liability, reputation and business continuity, and should be built into travel program planning.

Be Aware of Your Duty of Care and the Increase in Traveler Concerns

SAP Concur blog post emphasizes that with global business travel spending expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2020, organizations must strengthen duty of care and travel risk management. It notes that even organizations with good track records have gaps that could be seen as negligent. Risks include geopolitical, health, and environmental incidents, as well as common commuting accidents. Companies should embrace ethical responsibility beyond legal obligations and adopt consistent policies, training, communication, and data management.

Impact and considerations

Growth in business travel brings increased risks, requiring companies to enhance duty of care to protect employees and mitigate legal and reputational risks.

SAP Concur: Travel Directors Need Integrated Travel and Expense Data

A SAP Concur blog post states that travel directors face external pressures including the shared economy, supplier direct bookings, traveler satisfaction, and duty of care. Employees are spending across more categories and using more payment methods—credit cards, ghost cards, checks, cash, and P-cards—often managed by disconnected systems, making a single source of truth difficult. A GBTA Foundation report found only 47% of travel managers report their online booking and expense tools are integrated; only 20% use technology to capture bookings made outside the travel program, while 42% of North American travelers prefer booking directly on supplier websites. An Oxford Economics survey of 1,…

EY Sheds Light on 3 Key Business Travel Risk Areas

EY, through SAP Concur, offers an end-to-end travel management solution to help corporations manage business travel risks. The article identifies three key risk areas: trade risks (rising protectionism is the biggest risk, with US-China business travel suppressed), tax risks (129 countries pledged to implement BEPS, tax authorities may demand permanent establishment), and talent risks (countries protect domestic workers, such as EU posted-worker regulations). EY's service provides real-time assessments of travelers' tax, immigration, and EU posted-worker obligations.

Impact and considerations

With global risks rising, companies need to proactively manage tax, immigration, and compliance risks in business travel to protect employees and avoid reputational damage.

SAP Concur Uses Apollo 11 Expense Report to Discuss Travel Management Innovation

A SAP Concur blog post uses Buzz Aldrin's 1969 Apollo 11 expense report to trace the evolution of travel and expense management from paper processes to cloud automation, and announces more than 400 additional hotel properties joining the Concur TripLink network and a forthcoming TripIt feature to view neighborhood safety scores by day or night.