Travel managers concentrate efforts on further savings
The report shows that the overall ranking of priorities for 2013 remains very similar to the order of priorities for 2012. Travel buyers intend to focus on areas representing the greatest savings opportunities rather than those associated with the traveller experience. This is true regardless of the size of the company, the industry type, the budget spent on travel or the scope of the travel programme.
?The challenging economic climate means that there is continued pressure on buyers to both reduce costs and manage travel in a more cost-effective way,? commented Christophe Renard, CWT vice president, marketing, communications and business intelligence. ?As air and ground travel represents the majority of spend within a travel programme, it is not surprising that it is the number one priority for most travel buyers, even though it is an area that is already well advanced in terms of optimisation.?
The measures that travel managers plan to take to achieve these objectives vary according to region. While North American travel buyers are aiming to further consolidate their programmes and standardise processes, their counterparts in Asia-Pacific are intending to focus more on improving travel compliance and mandating preferred booking channels; Latin American travel buyers are concentrating on implementing advanced booking rules and strengthening car rental policies, whereas travel buyers from Europe, the Middle East and Africa are tightening air and rail policies to drive down air and ground costs.
Travel buyers with global responsibility are the only category of buyers to tackle traveller compliance with technology 2.0. Their top three actions to achieve this target include offering mobile services to travellers, implementing a social media tool or apps and providing their travellers with a web-based traveller portal. To achieve the same objective, regional travel buyers are looking at more traditional actions such as communication and training on policy.
?Travel managers with a global scope are more likely to test new procedures and techniques. They tend to be very advanced in optimising their travel programmes and as a result, they are often looking to address new challenges with innovative methods,? continued Renard.
Business travel trends indicate the challenges for 2013
The second part of the report covers the Business Travel Trends for 2013 and digs into the changes that travel buyers are likely to see over the year and the challenges they will be faced with in the current economic climate and evolving business travel landscape.
From a pricing perspective it is likely that global inflation will hit travel prices modestly overall, with increases of under five per cent; in addition, travel managers will need to monitor programmes and suppliers closely, paying particular attention to areas such as rising ancillary fees and fuel surcharges.
Changes in technology will affect the travel process with consumer-influenced technology increasingly finding its way into corporate travel through services such as travel review sites and mobile apps specifically designed for business travellers.
Travel management 2.0 will also be a major theme in 2013 as companies seek to find the right balance between exercising the right level of control over traveller booking behaviours while ensuring that travel is still managed for budgetary, and safety and security reasons.
Finally, risk management will also play a key role as companies send travellers to increasingly high risk areas and duty of care during business travel becomes an integral part of a company?s legal responsibility to its employees.
