The cutting back of business travel has accelerated in recent months, according to a report by KDS.
The company, which provides travel and expense management systems, surveyed the opinions of 435 business travellers worldwide in May and found the following:
– 71% said their companies had significantly reduced their business travel
– 37% saw cuts made over six months ago, 54% within the past two-to-six months, and a further 9% saw cuts implemented just in the last month
– trips for sales and commercial relations are the likeliest to be allowed (45% of approved travel), followed by customer support trips (21%), conferences and presentation visits (20%) and intercompany meetings (10%)
– training-related trips come off worst, at just 4% of those approved in the recession
– 62% said that, given the choice, they would be happy to travel less
– 75% of respondents said they now had to work harder to justify their travel
– 38% said their companies allowed them to travel business class and, of these, 70% said that it was only for flights of five hours or more
– 58% said they had reduced the frequency of their hotel stays in the past six months: of these, 35% had cut one stay out of five, 30% had cut 2 stays out of five, and 22% had cut as many as three stays out of five
– if offered a choice, 73% would choose to fly business class on a long trip, rather than upgrading their hotel room on their arrival
– 7% were asked to share a room with a colleague.
“The intensity of the recession has undoubtedly impacted attitudes towards travel,” said Stanislas Berteloot, KDS marketing director.
“However, while superficially the outlook is bleak, in fact it is simply a change in demand patterns. Travel businesses that help employers save money, but in a way that still preserves employee morale, are the ones that stand to perform strongest in this recession and emerge in an excellent position once the economy improves.”
By Bev Fearis
