Meet India's New-age Business Travellers

Sneaker-clad and backpack-toting, India's new-age business travelers are as discerning g as their corporate counterparts.

- Nisha Shroff

If you want to know who the new-age business travellers are, all you need to do is check your Instagram feed and voilà — you will see digital influencers, media personalities, chefs, DJs, writers, entrepreneurs, photographers, bloggers and many more “new” professionals, who are constantly hopping between cities and spending a large part of their time at airports, on planes, or in hotels. The very notion of the business traveller has transformed in the past couple of years. The stereotype of a suit-clad, briefcase-toting business person has now given way to trendy athleisure enthusiasts and sneaker-clad professionals, who, interestingly enough, now carry the “business traveller” tag.

This new business traveller is looking for a more informal way of life and this translates into the travel experience as well. These travellers are not just the C-suite segment but modern professionals who update their social media channels on the go, while balancing work emails.

These modern travellers are driven by apps. They are armed with their ‘handy smartphone’ (an integrated technology platform), that encompasses travel booking apps, hotels, destination services, smart products and data intelligence. These resources cut out unnecessary human interaction to a significant level, thereby increasing overall efficiency. Moreover, these travellers, primarily from the millennial generation are more flexible in terms of their travel schedule. For instance, they don’t mind flying for six hours just for one business meeting.