Trends Ep 88 Elle Ng Darmawan GBTA Global Business Travel Association

Описание: In a year defined by volatility, shifting corporate priorities and rapid technological acceleration, global business travel is making a powerful and confident return. In Episode 88 of the Trends series, filmed at IT&CMA and CTW Bangkok, David Barrett sits down with Elle Ng-Darmawan, Regional Director for Asia-Pacific at the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), to unpack the forces reshaping the world’s fastest-growing business travel market.

From her base in Singapore, Elle oversees GBTA’s expanding footprint across Asia-Pacific, a region that already represents 41% of global business travel spend and is forecast to hit US$800 billion by 2027. In this conversation, she explains why the APAC resurgence is not just a recovery, but a complete reconfiguration of how business travel works.

Elle breaks down the major shifts defining the new era of corporate travel:
• A surge in demand, with 63% of APAC buyers increasing their budgets
• A move toward itineraries built around wellbeing, purpose and balance
• The end of punishing 24-hour fly-in fly-out meeting culture
• The rise of bleisure travel, now a mainstream expectation
• Diverging generational demands that are forcing companies to rethink travel policies
• The rapid adoption of AI-driven platforms, mobile tools and digital wallets
• The region’s tough sustainability challenge—and how GBTA is pushing for real change

Elle’s perspective is clear: travellers today want smarter schedules, more flexibility and meaningful recovery time. Companies are responding by prioritising wellness and long-term productivity over old-school “push-through-the-jet-lag” expectations.

We also dive into the sector’s biggest challenge, sustainability. With APAC scoring just 0.7 out of 5 in GBTA’s global benchmarking for net-zero readiness, Elle outlines why the region must accelerate action, and how GBTA’s sustainability programmes are empowering organisations of all sizes to measure, report and improve their carbon impact.

Across all of this, Elle embodies the modern executive: strategic, people-focused and unafraid to lead with purpose. Her insights offer a blueprint for navigating an industry transformed by disruption and driven by new expectations of value, wellbeing and technology.

If you want to understand where business travel is heading and why APAC is defining the future, this episode is essential viewing.

Watch, learn, and get ahead of the trends shaping tomorrow’s corporate travel landscape.

Read the editorial interview at TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific.

#GBTA #businesstravel #Trends