We continue to analyse, more specifically, the four new professional figures linked to the world of tourism.
After dealing with destination managers and community managers , let’s focus on the Travel Manager bradleyschnickel.com.
What is the role of the Travel Manager? Mainly it must guarantee every comfort to the traveller, keeping the costs of the company low. Let’s find out how.
Travel manager
The Travel Manager is responsible for managing travel within a company. The primary objective of his activity is to find the correct balance between the comfort of travelers and the reduction of travel costs incurred by the company.
The Travel Manager is called to take charge of the duties and activities indicated below:
Drafting the corporate travel policy, i.e. the set of rules that regulate the management of corporate travel, for example by establishing the quality standards regarding hotel facilities (number of stars) or flight service classes.
Disseminate the travel policy by monitoring compliance among employees.
Evaluate, through periodic internal reports or reports provided by the agency, the trend of company travel expenses and the quality level of the services used.
Identify those areas of business travel which, through careful management, could generate savings for the company.
Initiate a tender to choose the partner travel agency that best meets the company’s needs, both in terms of quality of service provided and in terms of cost.
Maintain relations with the partner agency as a contact person (twitter.com) for the company.
Negotiate, with the possible support of the agency, advantageous rates with hotel chains, airlines, car rental companies, etc.
Employment opportunities in large and medium-sized enterprises
The Travel Manager is employed at an executive level in medium-large companies, which generate substantial volumes of expenditure for travel. It happens very frequently that this figure is not only and exclusively involved in the management of business travel, but that he reconciles this role with that of purchasing office manager or with a managerial position in human resources.
Having already reached managerial level, the Travel Manager can aspire to coordinate increasingly large business areas within private companies.
Although the typical production fabric of our country is mainly characterized by small and medium-sized enterprises, in recent years the figure of the Travel Manager has also found good acknowledgment in Italy; in fact, in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon model, the need for careful management of business travel within companies is beginning to be perceived.
Fundamental skills for a travel manager
• Basic skills
• Ability to use the most up-to-date IT systems and programs
• Knowledge of economics and business administration principles
• Technical-professional skills
• In-depth knowledge of the tourism sector, with particular reference to the specific corporate travel sector
• Knowledge of the main management software applied to tourism and adapted to the business context
• Finance concepts
• Transversal skills
• Good relational skills
• Mediation skills
• Organizational skills
An ideal job for those with a degree in economics
The Travel Manager is a qualified figure who has generally obtained a degree in economic disciplines ; however, tourism skills are not provided by traditional study programmes, as business travel is rarely the subject of academic study. For this reason specialization courses dedicated to travel managers are also spreading in Italy .
To fill this position, corporate experience is required which allows the travel manager to competently manage an area, such as travel, which transversally affects the entire company and employees.