Although, as has been stated, business travel and leisure travel share many facilities and services, the business travel sectors depend, for their effective functioning, on a considerable number of stakeholders whose role is concerned largely or exclusively with providing the facilities and services for this market.
The structure of business travel market is the following:
| Business travel sector | Buyers | Intermediaries | Suppliers |
| Individual business travel | Corporate sector and other types of organisation (voluntary sector, government bodies, etc.) Possibly through their own: - in-house travel managers/coordinators secretaries/PAs | Business/corporate travel agencies Travel management companies Possibly through: - implants - dedicated online - booking services | Transport providers Accommodation and catering operators Leisure and recreation suppliers |
| Meetings | Corporate sector Government sector - local - regional - national - intergovernmental Associations - professional - trade - fraternal - religious, etc. Possibly through their own: - in-house travel managers - in-house conference organizers - secretaries/PAs | Professional conference organisers/meeting planners Venue-finding agencies Production companies Destination management companies/ground handlers Specialist marketing consortia Destination marketing organisations | Transport providers Accommodation and catering operators Leisure and recreation suppliers Conference centres Management training centres Hotels' meetings facilities Universities Unusual venues Audiovisual contractors Telecommunications companies (video/satellite conferencing facilities) Interpreters |
| Incentive travel | Corporate sector, possibly through: - in-house travel managers - in-house conference organisers | Incentive travel houses Business travel agencies Destination management companies/ground handlers Destination marketing organisations | Transport providers Accommodation and catering operators Leisure and recreation suppliers |
| Exhibitions | Manufacturers and service providers | Exhibition organisers Exhibition contractors Destination marketing organisations | Transport providers Accommodation and catering operators Leisure and recreation suppliers Exhibition centres Stand contractors |
| Corporate hospitality | Corporate sector | Corporate hospitality agents PR companies Event management companies | Marquee contractors Caterers Historic and unusual venues Sporting/cultural events promoters Activity operators |
Table 2. Structure of the business travel market
Private companies, large and small, are clearly the main consumers and providers of business travel services, although they are by no means the only types of organisation active in this market. For example, representatives and employees of government bodies and agencies also need to travel and meet regularly in order to function effectively; members of associations of all types are important consumers in the conferences sector; and organisations such as universities attend specialist consumer shows to present the courses they teach, with the aim of recruiting students.
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The public sector is also present in this market as both supplier and intermediary. For example, many conference centres are owned by local authorities, and destination marketing organisations are almost always funded through a combination of public and private sector support. The need for public and private sector players to work together effectively in partnership in order to ensure the success of the business travel industry in any destination is paramount, a point underlined by Dwyer and Mistilis (1997; p.230): 'Strategies and solutions for developing the [business travel] industry will be generated in some combination of both the public and private arenas; an overarching constraint could be the nature of the interplay between these sectors, including their ability to work together in a proactive way for shared goals.'
Regarding the suppliers and intermediaries in the business travel and tourism market (Table 2) shows that many are common to almost all sectors: destination marketing organisations, transport providers, accommodation and catering operators, and suppliers of leisure and recreation facilities. In addition to these, however, each sector has its own specialist suppliers of the products and services it requires in order to function effectively, as well as its own specialist intermediaries. The role of these suppliers and intermediaries will be explored in the sectoral chapters that follow this one. In the meantime, it is worth noting that the great number and variety of these suppliers and intermediaries provides some indication of the extent of the challenges that must be met in coordinating their activities in order to provide buyers with a quality service.