The research is being conducted under the guidance of Prof Berendien Lubbe, Head of the Tourism Management Division and Dr Anneli Douglas, a staff member in the Division. The title of the research study is “The future of travel management companies: a comparative study between South Africa, Finland and the Netherlands”. A qualitative research study using structured interviews with corporate travel managers in Finland, South Africa and the Netherlands is underway, and up to now, interviews have been conducted in Finland and the Netherlands. The results from these interviews show that there is indeed a future for travel management companies. Furthermore, the results indicate that travel management companies should remain abreast of changes in the industry and continuously reconsider the value that they deliver to organisations in order to remain relevant in the future.

Mr Thompson presented the findings from the Finnish interviews at the New Directions: Travel and Tourism at the Cross Roads conference held in Dublin, Ireland, during April 2013. The conference was organised by the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA). It is envisaged that the results from the comparison between the countries will deliver further conference papers and journal articles.