Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), a global leader specialised in managing business travel, meetings and events, has now published its Travel Management Priorities for 2012 report. In addition to the chief priorities for travel managers this year, the study based on an international survey of 290 travel managers highlights the main changes in the business travel sector likely to affect corporate travel management and looks at global trends and regional differences.
Travel managers’ top four priorities for 2012 concentrate primarily on savings in air and ground transport, followed by improving compliance with travel guidelines, optimising hotel spend and the increased adoption of online booking tools. Even with the most mature travel programmes, these four areas still represent enormous potential for further savings.
To achieve these objectives, travel managers use a wide range of measures, including improving communications on travel policy and compliance (previous CWT research revealed that only half of travellers are familiar with their company’s travel policies), helping employees with online booking processes and mandating the use of preferred suppliers. Communication on guidance towards preferred suppliers is gaining in importance as a result of the increased use of mobile applications.
The CWT research pinpoints some differences in regions. For Europe, the Middle East andAfricathe number one priority is air and ground transport savings. As high-speed rail networks expand, managing the trade-offs between air and rail travel has become a matter of course inEuropefor travel managers. Travel managers in Latin America also attach the highest importance to driving air and ground savings, whilst in Asia Pacific, for example, they focus more on optimising hotel spend – undoubtedly a reflection of the high occupancy rates with which they are confronted in some cities there. North American travel managers, on the other hand, cite compliance with travel policy as their top priority.
“In 2012, moderate price increases are expected on the whole, with some stronger variations between individual countries,” says Christophe Renard, Vice President CWT Strategic Marketing. “This cautious market context is reflected in travel managers’ priorities, which focus largely on cost control in all regions.”
In an uncertain economic environment travel managers need to monitor changes closely to ensure they are getting the best deals from suppliers and extracting the best from their travel programmes. The CWT report therefore also highlights key market trends affecting travel programmes worldwide in the coming year. These include the continued growth in travel spend for Asia Pacific, the increasing use of mobile solutions in business travel and the sharp uptake in a strategic approach to meetings management.
“We are expecting the travel spend to be even more complex in 2012,” says Nick Vournakis, Vice President Global at the CWT Solutions Group. “Additional fees, surcharges and credit card booking fees charged not only by airlines are making it very difficult for buyers efficiently and accurately to compare the full cost of travel between suppliers.”
