European business travel continues upward trend

Business travel budgets in Europe grew 1% in 2016, according to the latest report by American Express Global Business Travel.

The growth is slightly down on the previous year’s rise of 1.42% and is at the lower end of the anticipated growth of 1% to 3%.

The data comes from the European Business Travel Barometer, based on a survey of 982 travel, HR and procurement professionals across Europe.

Growth in travel spend was driven by small and mid-size companies, which saw budget increases of 1.8% and 2.1% respectively.

Respondents said they expected to see continued, stronger growth in 2017, predicting a 2.5% increase in spend.

The Barometer also found that 67% of respondents predicted Brexit would have no impact on the European business travel market.

Traveller safety remains the greatest priority for companies, following last year’s shift towards prioritising traveller safety over cost.

"When looking to develop travel management policies, companies are increasingly collaborating with travellers to ensure they can best support them on their trips," said Jason Geall, vice-president for Northern Europe.

"As companies continue to broaden their travel management policy, a growing number are switching from a reactive to a proactive approach. This is apparent from the findings in the Barometer, 64% of companies now have systems in place to enable them to locate and communicate with employees anytime during their business travels.

"We’re also seeing a large majority (80%) of companies assessing the risk of a trip ahead of travellers making a booking and once booked, 81% are ensuring that employees are briefed accordingly. By adopting a safety-first approach when developing travel management policies, companies can ensure they are meeting their duty of care responsibility and are well equipped to respond should any situation where traveller safety concerns arise."

In 2015’s Barometer, 24% of respondents said they had the ability to contact employees at any time, to provide information on how to deal with a disruption or emergency during their trip. In 2016 this figure leapt to 89%.

In 2015, 75% said they could immediately repatriate employees. The figure rose to 87% last year.

In the latest Barometer productivity and employee satisfaction were rated more important than cost for the first time, although by a slim margin.

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