We are pleased to announce the release of the UK edition of our annual AirPlus International Travel Management Study – a comprehensive analysis of global and UK-specific market research. The Study reveals travel managers’ views on the impact of the global recession and demonstrates how the BTM landscape has changed in the past 12 months. The research interestingly shows that the effects of the recession were not all negative – at least not for the UK companies. In fact, 49% of the UK travel managers surveyed reported no detrimental change to their travel volume and a further 10% said they experienced growth during the recession.

Although there was a divided opinion on whether business travel volume will increase or decrease in the next 12 months, the majority of the respondents predicted that both volume and spend will remain the same. As many UK companies started focusing their efforts on a more comprehensive use of travel policies to save costs, the belief of many travel managers is that this trend is going to continue, with 65% of the companies predicting that tougher policies will govern their travel booking behavior in 2010.

Please download full study (PDF, 3 MB)

Lucy Wang, Country Manager China, AirPlus International

Welcome to the fifth edition of the AirPlus International Travel Management Study. Each year we survey 1,500 travel managers on the state of their corporate travel programs. The respondents are based in 15 countries and cover every continent, so it is arguably one of the most comprehensive and authoritative research into corporate travel on the planet.

We are glad, for the first time, we release the Chinese edition of the AirPlus International Travel Management Study in China this year. It shows our high attention on this booming business travel market. We do hope this Study can be of help for you to get insights for Chinese travel management industry trend.

We at AirPlus have learned a lot from the study too. Our big hope is that next year’s study will show travel resuming its long-term upward trajectory and that the improved professionalism in travel management so evident in this year’s results has become established as normal practice.

Download AirPlus International Travel Management Study 2009 PDF

‘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.

According to the current AirPlus International Travel Management Study, important trends and scenarios are emerging that will shape the future jobs of travel managers.

1500 travel managers from Europe, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa as well as China, Singapore and Australia were interviewed for the study. In general, they expect a clear expansion of their tasks in the areas of procurement, advertised bidding and climate protection. Over half of those surveyed believe that their responsibilities will come to include yet other areas; another 20% assume that this will be at least partially the case. In addition, two out of three travel managers expect that they will also assume the role of event manager.

Financing and controlling will continue to be among the most important travel management tasks. Over 80% of those questioned expect that their travel budgets will increasingly be examined based on a branch-by-branch or international level. At least as many (67%) expect a distinct or at least partial (16%) increase in the significance of financing. This is hardly surprising given the fact that almost 60% of all travel managers must adapt to expectations that their companies will be confronted with rising expenses for business travel in the future. Only every tenth of those questioned believes that costs will decrease. Climbing expenses will probably most clearly affect companies in South Africa, the Asia-Pacific area and the USA. 70 to 80% of travel managers in these countries expect rising budgets.

Flights are considered to be the primary ‘price boosters’. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed expect prices to rise (some even expect sharp rises). Another third assumes that expenses for flights will gradually settle down at current levels. Those questioned consider price booster number two to be hotels. Over half expect rising prices in this area, 40% expect them to remain the same and only 6% think prices will drop. In the expense segment ‘meetings and conventions’ and rental automobiles, some 30% of those surveyed anticipate their costs to rise in coming years.

Due to additional burdens on their budgets and added responsibilities, travel managers are also worried about the negative effects on their jobs. Even today, over 40% of travel managers feel clear pressure when they plan business travel; 60% can only devote a quarter of their work time to their actual responsibilities due to their additional tasks.

Read also: “The role of travel managers: All that glitters is not gold”.

Which news about travel managers do you want first – the good or the bad?

Let’s start with the good news: companies are appreciating their travel managers more and more. One out of every two of the 1,500 travel managers surveyed in the latest AirPlus International Travel Management Study believes that their position will gain importance in the coming years. The reasons for this positive development are clear: travel costs may be rising, but so is the number of business trips. At the same time, cost-cutting measures are being implemented and business trips handled more individually. Around 80% of the respondents expressed the opinion that they are so well regarded as travel managers because they have to accomplish this ‘squaring of the circle’.

But there is another side to this issue, because the study also showed, in addition to a generally positive assessment, alarming trends in travel management:

• 42% of travel managers feel time pressure when planning business trips
• 36% feel restricted in their work due to a lack of empowerment
• 60% spend only a quarter of their working time on their actual tasks due to other responsibilities

Negative opinions such as these explain why most of the respondents are so disappointed that their guidelines receive so little consideration. ‘Good’ and effective travel management can only work when those responsible also have the freedom to waive guidelines and also enforce sanctions when they are broken. That is why 80% of all respondents wish they either had more time or more sanctioning abilities. A third of them are even asking for both.

A further problem is becoming even more urgent, according to the respondents: it is becoming more and more difficult, mostly because of cost reasons, to cater to the individual needs of business travelers – although it’s also becoming more and more important. That’s why over 80% of travel managers hope for more intensive and coordinated collaboration with the finance department.

Travel managers are split beings. That at least is the impression you could get from reading the results of a study about the assumptions and expectations for the upcoming year: they have to give highest priority to costs savings, and yet a quarter of travel managers have no specific policy in the areas of flights, overnights, rental cars or train travel – although that is a significant condition needed to achieve lasting cost reductions.

But that’s not all: according to the study, 7 percent of companies have withdrawn their travel policies altogether. Particularly companies in Italy, Spain and Brazil are showing ever less interest in travel guidelines.

Another example: on the one hand, almost two-thirds of all travel managers assume that further savings potentials can be found and utilized in the areas of plane travel and overnight stays. But this positive message is tempered by the fact that travel managers, particularly in the USA and European countries, have to cope with a reduction of savings potential associated with their individual contracts with key service providers. Where travel managers a year ago could expect an 18% savings through contractual agreements with airlines compared to regular prices, in reality it has turned out to be only 16%. Even companies with high amounts of travel could not save more than 20%.

Most contracts with travel service providers are made in the area of overnight stays: two-thirds of all respondents had negotiated special deals in this area. Half of all companies had made a contract in the areas of rental cards and flights. Almost 40% have agreements with meeting or convention centers and 16% with rail services.

Travel managers will have to take on even more duties and responsibilities in 2009 than they have in 2008. In addition to applicable methods to increase savings, individual support given to business travelers will become ever more important, especially in western European countries. On a scale from one to five (very important to not particularly important), the support of travelers had the second-highest priority, with an average of 3.1 (reducing travel costs had 1.8). Next comes the optimization of internal processes (3.2), the introduction of travel policy guidelines (3.3), and reporting on costs for management (3.5).

1,500 travel managers from Europe, the USA, Mexico and Brazil, South Africa as well as China, Singapore and Australia were surveyed for the latest AirPlus International Travel Management Study.

Quelle: AirPlus International Travel Management Study 2008

A rough generalization would be: “Things will remain the same – travel costs will continue to climb in 2009″. Around 60% of travel managers expect a rise in costs, above all in the particularly cost-intensive areas of flight and overnight stays. Only one in fifteen thinks that a dip in costs is likely. Travel managers are more optimistic when it comes to costs of things like rental cars, train trips and the area of business meetings and communication, however. Around a third of those surveyed expected a rise in these prices. Half of them assume that prices will remain flat.

These figures are the result of a survey of 1,500 travel managers in the USA, Mexico and Brazil, South Africa as well as China, Singapore and Australia about expected travel costs as part of the latest AirPlus International Travel Management Study.

There are large regional differences when it comes to the expected rise in costs: between 70% and 80% of companies in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa assume that business trip expenses will rise. For European companies it is only 40%.