Main trends in the business travel Market – AMEX barometer
The main trends in the business travel market in 2007 were unveiled at the EVP (business travel seminar in Paris), an annual event organized by American Express Business Travel. Focus on the main developments in France and practices across Europe as revealed by the 2007 Amex-Concomitance consulting barometer.
Moves to control business travel policy continue apace! More than half of the companies surveyed implemented a formalized travel policy in 2007 (against only 39% in 2006) that covers most processes. The control of expense accounts heads the list (91%), followed by approval circuits for trips (85%) and the use of preferred suppliers (81%).
These measures aimed to optimize travel budgets, increasingly considered as a strategic goal even by the smallest of companies (13% in 2007 against 8% in 2006). Whilst 50% of companies in 2006 cited cost as the most important factor when drawing up a travel policy, this figure has increased to 68% in 2007.
At the same time, these policies are being applied more consistently: 96% of companies report an application rate above 70%, against 81% of companies last year. The barometer credits this increase to the generalization of online tools, which automate processes and thus ensure that the rules in place are respected.
To optimize their business travel expenses still further, an increasing number of companies are implementing cost control procedures, primarily with accounting methods which provide a cost analysis of previous expenses.
Harmonized practices throughout Europe
The barometer also highlights increasing use of the internet to organize business travel, particularly by small companies. Advantages include time savings, optimized purchasing, improved application of travel policy and optimized agency costs.
Finally, the EVP barometer has sallied out of its Franco-French framework for the first time to examine other European countries, only to find that practices among corporate accounts are, on the whole, managed in similar fashion. There are some notable differences, however: corporate accounts elsewhere in Europe focus more on employee security (82% against 60%) and take better account of CO2 emissions (47% against 22%), whereas French companies tend to concentrate more on the processes themselves.
And what of the outlook for 2008? For 80% of companies, the objective is to stabilize expenses. However, the barometer reveals that, due to the increasing importance of developing operations outside Europe (particularly in Asia), companies will be obliged to resort more and more to air travel. As such, EVP experts forecast an increase of 2.8% in the market in 2008 as compared to 2007, to reach €27.1 billion.
Want to know more?
The barometer can be downloaded in French and English at: http://www.evp2007.com/postevent/barometre.asp
Video of the whole barometer: http://www.evp2007.com/app_webseminar.html
