The future of travel management is written in green. Two-thirds of all travel managers expect ecological aspects to play an increasingly important role in future travel plans.

‘Green’ has finally made it onto the winner’s podium. Environmental considerations belong to the top three most important trends in travel management, next to meeting and convention management. In the current AirPlus International Travel Management Study 1,500 travel managers from Europe, the USA, Mexico and Brazil, South Africa as well as China, Singapore and Australia were asked if climate protection measures are increasingly being taken into account by their companies. The result: more than 70% answered positively (53% agreed completely, 18% with some reservations). Countries such as Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, Australia, England, Mexico and above all Brazil showed a much greater interest in respecting the environment in their business practices than did, for example, Austria, Germany or the United States.

One out of every two Brazilian companies donates money to climate change organizations, and even in Mexico it is one out of three. Only three out of every hundred respondents in Mexico and Spain admit to having no environmental aspects to their plans. And England had the most environmental programs or plans out of all the respondents from Europe. In comparison, only 7% of companies from the United States and 8% of those from Germany voluntarily donate money to fight climate change. And half of all Austrian firms refuse to take environmental concerns into account in their businesses. Those were the worst results from all 15 companies participating in the survey.

On average, only a few companies consistently use voluntary carbon offsets to balance out their travel. Only around 15% pay to offset carbon dioxide emissions, and another 7% plan to introduce such measures in the coming year. Over 60% of the respondents oppose such measures.