As companies scale across borders, a new study from SAP Concur across Southeast Asia reveals a shift in corporate travel management: the move from simple cost management to total trip value.
The 2026 Southeast Asia Business Travel Pulse Survey, which surveyed over 150 travel decision-makers across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, indicates that the traditional race to the bottom on ticket prices is being replaced by a focus on traveller productivity and operational resilience.
The survey identifies a widening “expectation gap” between business travellers and travel managers. While business travellers now view flexibility as a prerequisite for business travel, travel managers are struggling with the manual work required to deliver it.
Key findings for Southeast Asia:
- Flexibility is a Must: 5% of regional travel managers identify flexibility in bookings and cancellations as a top three priority for their travellers.
- Operational Friction Cost: 51% of respondents cite “managing last-minute changes and cancellations” as their primary operational challenge, significantly outranking concerns regarding high costs (38.6%).
- Balance between Policy, Cost, and Productivity: 5% of decision-makers prefer using AI that suggests “optimal” itineraries that balance policy, cost, and productivity, over tools that merely offer the cheapest options (32.7%).
- Integration as a Mandate: 58% of regional travel managers now require seamless integration with HR and finance functions to ensure a unified view of traveller bookings and their spend.
- Personalisation Over Efficiency: Over half of respondents (52.9%) rate hyper-personalisation as “very important,” viewing it as a core efficiency mechanism to reduce decision fatigue.
Why Total Trip Value matters now: The data suggests that minor fare savings can end up as a net loss for the business if it results in traveller fatigue that diminishes performance during high-stakes engagements. As organisations navigate high-cost environments, organisations should pivot toward intelligent, automated ecosystems that prioritise traveller productivity and business resilience.
The 2026 Southeast Asia Business Travel Pulse Survey offers a detailed breakdown of findings across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines — including actionable insights on how organisations can close the expectation gap and unlock total trip value. Download the report here.
