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NBTA report cites cost-containing travel managers for rosy future
Thursday, 21 Nov, 2006
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There’s continued strength in the future business travel market, partly because of the steps travel managers are taking to contain costs and ensure value, says the 2007 Business Travel Overview and Cost Forecast.
Key findings of the study conducted by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA):
- The majority of survey respondents or more than two-thirds expect their companies’ travelers to take more trips next year than in 2006.
- The majority of respondents anticipate higher air travel spend next year as compared to this year, for reasons including higher airfares (74.1%), more trips (65.1%) and more travelers (45.5%).
- The majority of respondents anticipate higher hotel spending next year as compared to this year. Reasons include higher rates (84.1%), more trips (60.3%) and more travelers (47.6%).
- The percentages anticipating higher air travel spend and higher hotel spend are greater than in the same survey one year ago.
- A majority of respondent companies use alternatives to commercial air travel, such as corporate jets, charter flights, fractional jet ownership or very light jets (VLJs). That compares to one third who reported using corporate jets or charters in 2004, and even less in 2002.
- More than three quarters of respondents’ companies are using online booking tools, an increase of 7.6 percentage points over last year. An additional 13.4 percent plan to implement online booking in the future.
- Significant percentages of respondents anticipate the following efforts to trim costs in 2007: bidding TMC contracts (38.5%); ramping up policy mandates (74.9%); or reducing the number of preferred airlines (20.7%), hotels (28.5%), or car rental contacts (20.5%).
- More than four in ten respondents plan to push their TMCs to implement direct connects in order to cut costs.
- More than one-third plan to explore possible shared distribution savings via usage of GDS New Entrants (GNE) or direct connects.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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