DRIVING air and ground savings continues to be the most important consideration for travel buyers in 2013, according to Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s (CWT) Travel Management Priorities report based on an international survey of nearly 800 travel managers. Their other top concerns were improving traveller compliance and optimising hotel spend.
Similar to survey results in 2012, travel managers prefer to focus on areas representing the greatest savings opportunities rather than those associated with the traveller experience.
“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,” said 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.”
However, cost-saving measures vary from region to region, with travel managers in Asia-Pacific intending to concentrate on communicating and providing training on the travel policy and empowering travel counsellors to enforce rules; tightening air and ground travel policy while finding the right balance between negotiated and restricted fares, and exploring the use of LCCs; mandating preferred booking channels and consolidating hotel spend on fewer properties to leverage larger volumes in negotiations; and increasing the scope of online booking tools.
The report also highlighted the changes and challenges that travel buyers are likely to see in the year ahead. CWT also predicted that global inflation will hit travel prices modestly with increases of less than five per cent, while travel managers will also need to monitor programmes and suppliers closely, paying particular attention to areas such as rising ancillary fees and fuel surcharges.
Meanwhile, 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.
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.
