Travel management companies are the largest sources of data and data analysis for travel buyers, although a significant portion also rely on internal data analysts, according to a BCD Travel survey.

The poll of 197 buyers, predominantly based in North America and Europe working for companies with more than 10,000 employees, found that 89 per cent use their TMC as a data source, compared with 69 per cent of respondents who receive data from card/payment and expense management solutions.

Around two-thirds of buyers use online booking tools (OBTs) as data sources and 58 per cent utilise travel suppliers, with a smaller percentage going through internal sources such as travel surveys or HR systems.

TMCs were also the largest resource for data collection and analysis for travel buyers in the survey (63 per cent of respondents). Only 9 per cent used third-party data aggregators or external consultants for data analysis and a quarter did not use any third parties for data.?

The most widely used tool for data analysis was TMC dashboards, which were utilised by 84 per cent of buyers ¨C narrowly ahead of spreadsheets (81 per cent). Business intelligence software was used by 45 per cent of respondents, and only a small percentage of buyers deployed custom-built tools (15 per cent) or engaged third-party aggregators (8 per cent).

Travel buyers in the survey indicated that they have the skills to work with the data themselves but also prefer to have an external eye on it.

Around three-quarters of respondents felt they had the necessary experience to work with data, and two-thirds said they interact with their data on a daily or weekly basis, according to the survey.

However, 56 per cent of respondents said they preferred to leave working with data "to the professionals", and 44 per cent said they lack the time to interact with their data as much as they would like.

Around one-third of respondents said they have a part-time or full-time data analyst working with travel data within their organisation.

Buyers in the survey showed a lack of total confidence in the quality of travel data, with only 35 per cent saying they were very or extremely confident in their data. Just under half said they were moderately confident in their data, 14 per cent were slightly confident and only 4 per cent not confident at all with their data.

Respondents said that the biggest challenge in working with travel data was fragmentation across multiple sources, which was cited as an issue by 57 per cent of buyers.?

The poll also indicated a relatively low use of AI in collecting and analysing travel data so far, with three-quarters of respondents saying they did not use AI for this purpose. Only 9 per cent currently use AI for travel data analysis - largely through tools provided by their employer rather than a third party - and 16 per cent did not know whether they used AI to analyse travel data.?