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JOHANNESBURG – When flights started being cancelled across the Gulf at the end of February, hundreds of thousands of travellers were stranded, exposing how dependent travel – particularly from South Africa – is on a handful of hubs. Among them were business travellers: senior teams on their way to close deals, inspect sites and run critical projects. High-stakes trips, suddenly on hold.
If one of those travellers had been yours, the price your company paid for the trip would have been less important than answering where they are, how safe they feel, and what the knock-on ramifications might be of delaying the trip. At times like these, companies experience the limits of a travel programme that is focussed solely on price, not impact.
Mummy Mafojane, General Manager at FCM South Africa, says unmanaged or purely price‑driven travel quickly becomes more expensive overall, once you factor in last‑minute changes, missed connections and poor routing. “We see clients who fixate on the cheapest fare, but by the time you add in longer routings, extra nights, changes and reissues, the real cost of the trip is far higher,” she says.
“The companies that cope best are the ones that treat travel as a managed investment, with clear policy, preferred partners and access to data to back their decisions.”
The payoff is measurable. A recent study by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) found that every 1% rise in managed travel spend corresponds with a 0.20% increase in revenue, and companies with strategically managed travel programmes outperform their peers by as much as 30%. Yet most lack the data infrastructure to prove the link between travel investment and performance.
That matters because business travel spend is growing, and scrutiny is growing with it.
Global business travel spend is forecast to reach around $1.7 trillion in 2026, up from $1.57 trillion last year, according to the GBTA. In addition, FCM’s State of the Market report showed that 45% of FCM customers planned to increase travel spend in FY26, with EMEA leading at 46%, up from 39% in 2025. Companies are spending more, but are they spending well?
Measuring what really matters
FCM Consulting’s Travel Impact Index is a structured assessment tool that helps companies and travel managers evaluate and clearly explain the value of their managed travel programme in business terms, not just in savings.
It scores programmes across six pillars, including governance, risk management, data visibility, supplier strategy, stakeholder engagement and traveller experience, and benchmarks those scores against similar organisations. The result shows where a programme is strong, where the gaps are, and where investment will have the greatest impact.
Financial impact is where the business case lives. Most programmes measure direct spend but miss the time lost to cumbersome booking processes, the cost of badly routed itineraries and the carbon exposure that sustainability reporting now requires. Without those numbers, a programme cannot give the business an honest account of what travel actually costs.
Risk management has become an operational priority. The International SOS Risk Outlook 2026, surveying 830 senior decision-makers, found 57% say new risks are emerging faster than they can manage. That was evident at the end of February, when more than 27,000 flights were grounded across nine countries in just a few days. Companies with access to real-time traveller tracking and predefined response protocols moved their people swiftly; those that didn’t were left scrambling.
Governance is what converts insight into action, through benchmarked processes, defined mandates and empowered teams that can respond when needed.
Alongside those three sit the pillars that make the programme work day-to-day, including stakeholder engagement and the traveller experience. Arguably one of the most important, because if the booking process is difficult, people book outside the programme and the company loses sight of spend, risk exposure and supplier commitments.
“Sort out your bookings, sort out the data, and sort out compliance,” says Mafojane. “After that, the numbers speak for themselves, including on the days when flights stop and your people need to come home.”
FCM Consulting’s Travel Impact Index is available at fcmtravel.com.
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For more information about FCM Travel call Sonnette Fourie on 081 072 2869 or email sonnette@bigambitions.co.za.
About FCM Travel:
FCM Travel, the flagship corporate travel brand at Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG), is the business travel partner of choice for large national, multinational and global corporations. We are an award-winning global corporate travel management company ranking as one of the top five by size around the world. We operate a global network which spans more than 100 countries, employing over 6000 people.
FCM are transforming the business of travel through our empowered and accountable people who deliver 24/7 service and are available either online or offline. Leveraging FCM’s negotiating strength and supplier relationships in conjunction with our tailored business travel programs, our expertise delivers more for our clients where it matters most to them.
Visit us at www.fcmtravel.co.za
Issued by: Big Ambitions
Contact: Sonnette Fourie
Tel: +27 81 072 2869
Email: sonnette@bigambitions.co.za
