It's that time of year again - happy New Year, by the way - the time when we look forward to what's going to impact business travel buying over the next 12 months. At the Business Travel Show, we have carried out an annual buyer survey for the last four years. Each year, we ask buyers to spill all about the forthcoming 12 months. And here are the results for 2014.
- 76%will have more money to spend
- 49% are being asked to book more trips
- 76% of airline budgets will be the same or greater
- 74% of accommodation budgets will be the same or greater
- 83% of buyers will be expected to book the same or more trips
- This is the third consecutive annual rise in the number of buyers enjoying bigger budgets
- In 2013, 72 per cent of budgets were higher or the same
- In 2012, 67 per cent of budgets were higher
2014 v 2013
|
2013 v 2012
|
2012 v 2011
| |
Percentage of business travel buyers with increased budgets
|
76%
|
72%
|
67%
|
Airline budgets
|
39% - greater
37% - the same
| ||
Accommodation budgets
|
38% - greater
36% - the same
| ||
Number of trips managed
|
More – 49%
The same – 34%
Fewer – 9%
|
More – 57%
The same – 22%
Fewer – 22%
|
183 travel, category and procurement managers
took part in the survey for the Business Travel Show, which takes place 4-5
February 2014 in London. The majority of respondents were UK-based, 55 per cent
control budgets in excess of £3 million and 65 per cent manage programmes with
in excess of 500 business travellers.
We also asked them about the biggest issues facing
them and the industry over the next 12 months. Here are the top 20 responses:
1
|
NDC
|
11
|
Gamification
|
2
|
Travel management 2.0
|
12
|
Relaxation
of policy
|
3
|
Data
|
13
|
Airline
bankruptcy
|
4
|
Sustainability
|
14
|
Integration
of social and travel tools
|
5
|
Meetings management
|
15
|
Ancillary
fees
|
6
|
Mobile apps
|
16
|
Airline
consolidation
|
7
|
Technological
developments
|
17
|
Risk
management
|
8
|
Free
Wi-Fi in hotels and on airlines
|
18
|
Virtual
meetings
|
9
|
CSR
|
19
|
Fuel
increases
|
10
|
Terrorism
|
20
|
Less
reliance on TMCs
|
Personally, I think these results are great news for
buyers. They have faced intense pressure over the last couple of years to cut
costs and stretch budgets. The figures also support the
GBTA’s own predictions that the UK business travel industry is heading for very
strong growth in 2014 and 2015 and, following a trying few years, western
Europe’s major markets should see a bounce back over the next five years.
This post was written by Business Travel Show event director David Chapple. Find out more about buying business travel better at the Business Travel Show, 4-5 February 2014. Register now at www.businesstravelshow.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment