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Environmental concerns starting to impact business travel – poll
Business travel behaviour is beginning to change in response to global warming concerns, a forthcoming study will show.
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives and KDS poll of more than 250 corporate travellers and travel managers found that nearly half felt that guilt about global warming now directly impacts individuals’ decisions about business travel.
The study will show that the proportion of companies advocating a reduction in travel for environmental reasons has leapt from under a quarter to more than one third in a year.
This rise in corporate social responsibility has also seen a marked increase in the proportion of travel departments reporting on carbon emissions to senior management.
Almost 70% of respondents use an online travel booking tool, potentially creating a far closer link between individually held concerns and actual travel bookings.
The traveller is now directly involved in the selection process and when given a choice may select a travel option according to its impact on the environment, according to the survey.
The findings, due to be revealed at next month’s Business Travel Show in London, will also reveal that in the past 12 months businesses have done more to convert good environmental intentions into firm actions.
“This joint survey is especially significant as it indicates a major behavioral change in the way business travelers now link carbon reduction with the travel process,” said Susan Gurley, ACTE executive director.
“It is inevitable that travellers, and their companies, will incorporate a growing sense of environmental awareness into travelling smarter, more productively, and with less impact on the environment. Our industry will soon be looking at bold new trends.”
Stanislas Berteloot, marketing director of travel and expense solutions firm KDS, said: “Individual travellers seem to be leading the way when it comes to greener behaviour.
“While businesses are taking more action to improve their environmental conduct, this survey will show that most of their employees believe they should be doing even more.
“With the increasing adoption of self-booking travel systems, the quickest route to improved corporate social responsibility seems to be through individuals’ actions.”
by Phil Davies
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