In 2026, we’ve moved past the initial AI hype and into the era of “agentic” systems, tools that don’t just suggest a flight but proactively fix your itinerary before you even realize there’s a delay. Yet, surprisingly, the more advanced the tech becomes, the more business travellers are demanding a return to human-centric service. Based on Direct Travel’s 2026 Business Travel Forecast, cost-cutting is being replaced by cost-resilience, and loyalty is no longer a game of chasing points, but a demand for experiences that actually fit a modern lifestyle.

To get a pulse on how these global shifts are landing here in Southeast Asia, we reached out to Ali Hussain, Regional Managing Director for Asia at ATPI. From the practicalities of embedding sustainability into daily travel policy to navigating the fragile state of global connectivity, Ali breaks down how regional players are balancing high-tech autonomy with the high-touch support that remains the backbone of the Asian corporate market.

Q: Agentic AI can proactively rebook flights, resolve disruptions, and personalise trips without human prompting. Realistically, how mature is the data infrastructure across your Asian client base to actually support that kind of automation reliably?

Asia’s data infrastructure is still highly fragmented. Real time, proactive automation still faces a significant maturity gap. The intent exists but most countries and our customer base is still in a stage of fragmented transition towards full AI automation. Individually some cities like Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai are ahead in this transition. Other countries are still in a fragmented infrastructure environment where AI deployment at scale for ‘active’ automation is still at an ambitious stage. The best AI can do is suggest choices and not actively action choices.

Against this landscape, when we add the complexity of cross-border data infrastructure we come across some fundamental hurdles even as basic as real time data streams, content fragmentation – EDIFACT vs NDC Maturity, payment methodologies and data sovereignty as countries pursue data moats in AI infrastructure – still an evolving space as AI governance is being formulated.

Q: How likely are these trends to change over the next couple of years?

Over the next 24 months, autonomous agentic AI will likely still be limited to specific digitally ‘golden’ routes where the origin and destination are on a similar level of real time data exchange and support interoperability across sovereign identities, content & payments. Augmented AI is likely to be more readily available across Asia – where AI makes the best suggestion and it takes human interaction to validate the choice and complete the task.

So, the direction is clear. Fully autonomous AI in travel will come, but in Asia it will be evolutionary, not immediate. And in the near term, the most effective model remains a combination of advanced technology and human expertise working together.

Q: The report makes a distinction between cost resilience and cost cutting. How do you explain that nuance to CFOs in the region who are focused on the bottom line, especially when dynamic pricing makes budgets harder to predict?

The world is in a dynamic state right now and every aspect from oil prices to currency fluctuations are increasing the state of flux of dynamic pricing. The nuance lies in the shift of lowering the price to managing the volatility. Cost cutting can be a blunt, one-time event but cost resilience is more continuous and adaptable.

Cost cutting is aimed at a static goal – for example a $100 hotel rate. However, when demand spikes, conditions change, dynamic pricing algorithms take over, there is no availability. This triggers a spike in ‘out of policy’, ‘exception’ or ‘rogue bookings.

Cost resilience is aimed at the best deal in a fluctuating curve – when dynamic pricing / volatility in demand exists, the goal of a cost resilient method is the effectiveness of sourcing in for example the best 10% ~ 20% of the available inventory. AI can help this shift to ‘value or yield management’. Dynamic pricing requires dynamic policies and dynamic sourcing. AI can enforce a ‘cap’ while searching for the best deals within a dynamic pricing environment.

Q: Loyalty leakage is a real compliance problem. In Asia, where bleisure travel preferences are surging among younger professionals, how are you helping clients close that gap?

The number of business travellers who plan on blending work with leisure has been on a steady increase for several years – now polling at 70%+ who plan on ‘bleisure’ during the year. Traditional compliance and control policies need to be re-engineered to enable and align business goals. Formalizing a bleisure travel policy is a start. For example, extension of soft perks and rewards – lounge access, mileage, upgrades, ‘green points’ – if responsible usage is aligned with business goals, the traveler could have access to better rates / perks, and the company has access to a greater travel spend / negotiated rates with suppliers. A good bleisure policy could have a small but very positive impact on talent recruitment & retention.

“Fully autonomous AI in travel will come, but in Asia it will be evolutionary, not immediate. And in the near term, the most effective model remains a combination of advanced technology and human expertise working together”, says Ali Hussain, Regional Managing Director for Asia at ATPI

Q: Singapore and Australia are ahead on emissions tracking, the rest of APAC is more fragmented. Are there markets in your region where sustainability is still a major challenge and how do you help clients move to auditable action?

Singapore and Australia are definitely ahead on emissions tracking & ESG maturity, but Asia is moving rapidly from ‘green-washing’ to mandatory, auditable policies. China, India, Indonesia – all have frameworks in place for sustainability reporting. Travel plays a big part in sustainability reporting. The challenge again is not a lack of interest but inconsistency in standardized data infrastructure – the capture and reporting of scope 3 emissions for example. Regional airlines and local hotels do not yet capture or provide standardized data. We help customers with Carbon verification protocols and help setup Sustainable Aviation Fuel, contribution / carbon offset programs. These create an emission value for every trip and the ability to audit emissions and claim them under scope 3 reductions.

ESG disclosures, potential carbon border taxes are becoming the new cost to conduct business.

Q: What does a credible, data-backed sustainability travel policy actually look like for a mid-sized Asian corporate today, and who in the organisation needs to own it?

Like any well-intentioned initiative which either involves the right to operate or simply the right thing to do, the initiative survives and thrives when it is allocated a dollar value and aligned to a business goal. For me, a sustainability policy including travel needs to be owned at the board level by either the CSO, CFO or the CEO (depending on their primary business).

A mid-sized corporate today should define its policy by audit readiness and point of sale behavior influence. These should generally include carbon budgeting including SAF contribution models, precise data capture that can stand up to ISSB standards and finally travel policy that influences and encourages sustainable behavior – use of verified green-tier hotels, rail-routes where applicable, ride-sharing, EV / Hybrid rentals and similar.

Q: Cross-border travel between high-volume corridors is becoming more complex. Which routes or markets are your clients in Asia finding most unpredictable right now, and how are you advising them to plan around that?

At the point of this response, the greatest disruption to travel is through West Asia / Middle East. Travel from Asian countries to the Emirates, Africa, Europe & the East Coast of the US, had a large percentage of travel through the West Asia / Middle East carriers. What we are witnessing may be a short-term disruption or a long-term shift in travel patterns. It is the most unpredictable corridor or travel and one which the Asian markets had come to use frequently and rely on.

Direct long-haul flights are the obvious answer, but this comes at a higher cost. There is also a significant reduction in the number of flights and availability in this travel corridor. The reasons for travel, purpose of travel, value of travel all become far more important.

In such an environment, we recommend that corporates who must travel invest in the route with the fewest geopolitical choke points, even if the fare is 20% higher — the cost of a stranded employee is always higher than the ticket premium.

Q: The report flags a rise in scams targeting travellers at moments of stress — flight delays, hotel check-ins — including deepfakes and phishing. Is this threat being taken seriously enough by Asian corporates, or is cyber risk still seen as an IT problem rather than a travel management one?

Cyber risk is still definitely seen and managed as an IT problem rather than a human related issue. While a lot of training and education is provided in companies that do see it as human related, most responses are still built around protecting the device and a ‘do not click’ format.

Travel lends itself to the highest levels of scams as scammers monitor travel disruptions and target travelers at these moments of stress with deepfakes that now very realistically imitate airline / hotel helpdesks.

We are still evolving in this space and how to tackle the threat. I do not have a definitive answer, but I do recommend we formulate ‘travel disruption drills’ – here are the steps to take / here is how our travel disruption protocol will communicate – rather than a ‘do not click’ protocol, we shift to a ‘here are the actions to take’ protocol. Add in secure protocols like 2FA and we move to a more secure pattern of behavior when dealing with travel disruptions.

Q: Across all five trends in the report, the common thread is technology in service of people, not replacing them. In Asia, where does the human layer matter most and what’s the one thing no algorithm will ever fully replace in corporate travel management?

Technology is brilliant at processing historical patterns, overlaying data and providing logical options. With AI and personalization, this can be even more effective with contextual options. The scale and speed work well for predictable patterns based on historical behavior.

In Asia, the human layer is the difference between a technologically efficient trip and a purpose driven culturally successful one. The human touch provides strategic judgement, social intelligence when navigating the complex hierarchy of Asian business culture and very importantly empathy and calm during disruptions and stress. The one thing that remains exclusively human is contextual empathy.