For many organisations, international Business Travel has become routine. In fact, international travel now represents 42% of all business journeys, reflecting how global operations have become part of everyday business. Expanding into new markets, managing distributed teams and travelling to meet customers across borders is now part of day-to-day operations.
Yet ground transport remains an overlooked part of the journey.
The problem is that ground transport doesn't become simpler as organisations grow internationally. It becomes significantly more fragmented.
As every new country introduces different suppliers, booking methods, regulations, and traveller expectations, the operational burden increases. Without the right infrastructure in place, organisations begin to lose visibility, compliance becomes harder to maintain, and duty of care is put under greater pressure.
Scale creates complexity
Many travel programmes are designed around domestic operations, where preferred suppliers, negotiated rates, and familiar booking tools work well.
Internationally, those same programmes are tested in ways they were never built for.
Research from our three-part Business Travel Manager Report found that international travel now accounts for a significant proportion of overall business journeys, yet many organisations still rely on domestic-first processes when managing transport overseas.
This results in more booking channels, more inconsistent service standards, more manual administration and more opportunities for travellers to step outside managed programmes.
Ground transport becomes one of the few parts of the travel experience where consistency is rapidly impacted.
Visibility starts to disappear
Visibility is often viewed as a reporting issue, but in reality it affects almost every aspect of travel management.
If travellers book transport through different local providers, consumer apps, or unfamiliar platforms, organisations lose access to accurate journey information. Spend becomes harder to reconcile, traveller locations become less certain and supplier performance becomes difficult to measure.
The Our research highlights that visibility over bookings, spend, and traveller movements is one of the most common challenges Travel Managers face when operating internationally. Around a quarter (24%) say they lack clear visibility over spend and traveller locations during international trips, while 22% cite a lack of visibility on travel activity as a key operational challenge.
These blind spots create operational challenges that extend further than finance reporting.
Without a complete picture of journeys taking place across multiple countries, responding to disruption becomes challenging, identifying trends becomes more difficult, and opportunities to improve programmes are often missed altogether.
Compliance is rarely the real issue
When off-platform bookings increase, the immediate assumption is often that travellers are ignoring policy. But the reality is usually much simpler.
When approved options aren't available, booking tools don't work internationally, or travellers need to make quick decisions in unfamiliar locations, convenience naturally takes priority.
Employees don't intentionally bypass travel programmes. They simply choose the option that allows them to continue their journey.
CMAC's research found that 30% of bookings are made outside preferred platforms, 20% involve unapproved providers, and 29% leave no receipt trail, highlighting how quickly visibility and financial oversight can be lost when international ground transport falls outside managed programmes.
This suggests that improving compliance isn't just about enforcing stricter policies.
It's about creating programmes that are easy to use wherever people travel.
In fact, there is a strong appetite for a more connected international approach that combines the convenience travellers expect with the governance organisations require.
Duty of care is only as strong as your visibility
Duty of care doesn't begin when something goes wrong. It begins with the visibility of knowing where your people are, who they're travelling with, and how to support them whenever circumstances change – wherever they are. Effective duty of care comes down to preparation.
International ground transport introduces additional variables that make this more difficult.
Late-night arrivals, unfamiliar cities, language barriers, disruption, and varying supplier standards all increase operational risk.
If journeys take place outside managed channels, organisations lose the visibility needed to respond effectively.
The research identifies this as one of the hidden consequences of fragmented ground transport. As more journeys fall outside of policy, accountability becomes less clear and traveller support becomes increasingly reactive.
For organisations with growing international travel programmes, this is a business resilience challenge.
The future of Business Travel is better connected – not more restrictive
As organisations continue expanding internationally, adding more suppliers or introducing tighter policies is unlikely to solve the underlying problem.
CMAC's Business Travel Manager reports share a common thread: that successful international programmes are becoming more connected rather than more complicated.
Instead of asking travellers to navigate fragmented local markets, leading organisations are focusing on creating consistent experiences that balance convenience with visibility, policy compliance, and operational support.
That doesn't mean replacing existing suppliers. It means bringing them together through a connected ecosystem that gives Travel Managers greater oversight while making it easier for travellers to go wherever they need to be.
As international Business Travel continues to grow, organisations that strengthen this part of the journey will be better positioned to improve traveller experience, maintain compliance, and deliver the visibility that modern travel programmes demand.
For those looking to understand the challenges in more detail, CMAC's three-part Business Travel Manager Report explores how international ground transport impacts visibility, traveller behaviour, and programme performance – and what leading organisations are doing to build more connected travel programmes.