How many hidden travel managers are there in Kazakhstan?

Over the past year, 13,400 people bought airline tickets 20 or more times on the Freedom Travel platform. That is an average of 34 orders per person—almost three a month.

Most of them are likely buying tickets for colleagues. They are office managers, assistants, accountants, and department heads. The word “travel” may not appear in their job title, but they do the work of a travel manager every week.

We call them hidden travel managers. Here is how we counted them, what workload they carry, and what this invisible work costs companies.

How we calculated it

We analyzed anonymized airline ticket purchases made on the Freedom Travel platform over 12 months, from October 2025 through September 2026. Of 524,000 buyers, 13,400 placed 20 or more orders. That level of activity almost always means the buyer is booking for more than just themselves.

These are only our customers, so the nationwide figure is higher.

The work that is missing from the job description

Thirty-four orders a year do not mean 34 clicks. Each one involves choosing a flight and hotel, securing a manager’s approval, making the payment, and checking the documents afterward.

Corporate booking data shows that 67% of tickets are purchased one week or less before departure, and one in five is bought just a day in advance. Around 8.5% are later refunded or changed—one ticket in every 12. The hidden travel manager handles that urgency and rework too.

Most importantly, they carry the responsibility. If a flight is canceled at 11 p.m., the traveler calls them, not the airline. If a ticket was paid for with a personal card, the expense report also falls to them.

“I joined as an administrator, and six months later I realized I was spending half my day looking for tickets. Nobody planned it: someone asked me once, and it snowballed from there.” — office manager at an IT company, Almaty

“Buying a ticket is not the hardest part. The harder part is getting a message at night that a flight was canceled and someone is stranded at the airport. They call me, not the airline.” — executive assistant at a construction company, Astana

“I buy tickets for my own team. It adds up to nearly 40 flights a year, and every time I compare prices across three websites.” — head of sales at a distribution company, Atyrau

What it costs the company

Time. Organizing a business trip from Almaty to Astana for two employees takes around 5.5 hours: selecting tickets, checking details, and obtaining all the approvals. At 34 such trips a year, that is 187 hours, or 23 working days. Even if the time spent on each order is cut in half, organizing travel still takes more than two working weeks a year.

At a rate of ₸3,500 per hour, one employee’s time alone can cost up to ₸650,000 a year. Across all 13,400 hidden travel managers, that amounts to 1.2–2.5 million working hours annually. This is an upper estimate, but it illustrates the scale.

Taxes. A ticket purchased with a personal card through a regular B2C channel makes accounting more complicated.

Rates. Without corporate agreements, companies miss out on hotel discounts—ours average up to 22% off the walk-in rate. Without a configured travel policy, companies also overpay by another 10–15% on fares.

How to give employees their time back

Business travel is not going away. But the hidden travel manager’s workload can be made much lighter, giving them more time for their actual responsibilities.

Here is how Freedom Business Travel helps:

• Selection takes minutes, not hours. Self-booking and the AI agent reduce trip-selection time by 92%—about one working day per trip. The AI assembles the entire itinerary and automatically follows the company’s limits and rules.
• Late-night cancellations are not your problem. Real people are available in support around the clock. We respond within two minutes, including through WhatsApp.
• No receipts from personal cards. One agreement covers nine services, with post-payment, electronic invoices, completion certificates, and bills issued by the 10th of the following month. VAT can be reclaimed, and every trip has its own expense category.

Does someone at your company buy tickets for the entire office? Share this article with them so they know their work is seen.

If you want to calculate how much your company could save on organizing business travel, send a sample trip to [email protected] and we will run the numbers using your data.