Sydney/Shanghai/New Delhi, June 28 (ANI): Over four in ten corporate travel buyers expect number of trips to increase in latter half of 2012, even as companies are sending their employees on the road again, tempered by a growing emphasis on cost control and efficiency for corporate travel, a study undertaken by Egencia, the fifth largest travel management company in the world, has revealed.
The 2012 Global Corporate Travel Benchmarking Study and Travel Manager Research evaluated current business travel landscape and supply environment for air, hotel and car inventory, and it came to the following conclusion based on a quarter one global supply research:
(1) For air travel, ATPs for intra-APAC destinations increased three percent year on year. The mixed pricing landscape can attribute increased ATP's to increasing cost pressures and strong domestic demand keeping rates high (2) For air travel, North American points-of-sale, ATPs for North America showed increases of approximately six percent in nearly all business destinations due to increasing cost pressures, especially higher fuel prices and a limited increase in supply and (3) For air travel, European points-of-sale, ATPs (Average Ticket Prices) for European destinations increased nearly six percent year-on-year (compared to a decrease of eight percent year-on-year in 2011. The increased ATPs can be attributed to rising fuel prices and tightly managed capacity by airlines.
The hotel environment worldwide experienced an Average Daily Rates (ADRs) increase in the majority of destinations. ADRs increased an average of 5.7 percent Asia-Pacific, six per cent in North America and 3.3 per cent in Europe.
"Asia-Pacific growth has moderated and savvy companies are well aware of the volatility of the market. As a result, we're seeing less international travel with a shift to a more intra-APAC focus," said Cecilia Routledge Managing Director Egencia APAC.
Routledge added: "Even though ATPs and ADRs have increased, opportunities for savings can still be found. Greater emphasis is being placed on conservative policies - travelling domestically or with LCCs and seeking out lower tier hotels just outside of the business hubs."
"We want to ensure our customers succeed in today's challenging economic environment, and that they have the right tools to optimize their business travel programs and policies to the best of their ability," said Rob Greyber, President, Egencia.
Greyber added: "This study does just that - it provides businesses with key insight into air, hotel and car rental pricing in today's market, with tips on how to navigate successfully through constantly evolving business travel challenges."
Respondents of Egencia's global survey of over 300 travel buyers, 43 percent of buyers expect their travel volumes, or number of trips, to increase during the remainder of 2012 (compared with 54 percent in 2011), while 46 percent expect their overall travel spend to increase.
Additionally, 62 percent of travel buyers said they will negotiate more in 2012 (compared to 38 percent in 2011).
Travel managers universally identified cost control/reducing expenses (77 percent) as the greatest challenge facing their travel programs, followed by traveler compliance/policy enforcement (40 percent)
Even as companies try to hold the line on travel spending, they are also mindful of traveler satisfaction; possibly attributing to an increasing willingness to bump their travelers to front of cabin travel (business/first class) on flights lasting more than nine hours. In fact, Egencia found that 45 percent of business travelers are permitted to travel in front of cabin seats on flights over nine hours, compared to just six percent of business travelers on flights lasting less than nine hours. Allowing for business/first class travel may be emblematic of companies wanting to be seen as supporting their employees, not just cutting costs. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
