Travel policy enforcement is becoming more of an issue according to BCD Travel in its annual global survey Insight on Corporate Travel.
The survey shows a 23 percentage point increase in companies whose policy enforcement is either ‘strict’ or ‘moderate to strict, ’ up from 36% in 2007 to 59 % this year.
Those companies enjoying levels of air programme compliance beyond 70% decreased in the same period, by eight percentage points, from 65% in 2007 to 57% this year. BCD believes this decline reflects the fact that corporates are struggling against increasing fares and decreasing capacity to secure space on preferred carriers.
“Corproates are reducing processing costs through increased usage of online booking tools; they are enhancing policy communication to ttravelelrs; and they are enforcing the use of preferred suppliers and the preferred agency” concludes Mary Ellen George, general manager of Advito, BCD’s consultancy arm, that provided data analysis for the survey.
Some 74% of respondents are reporting into procurement, a jump of 30% over last year’s survey. Sixty per cent of buyers, however, believe they have no influence on demand management, ie the ability to control the number of trips taken.
Over half the buyers (53%) predict that their companies’ demand for travel will increase by end 2009, fuelled by increases in emerging and growth markets.
Some 11% of companies have increased their usage of their inline booking tool in the past year. Of those not using one, 47% are planning to implement one within the next two years.
Some 17% of corporates see challenges with hotel sourcing due to high demand yet low capacity in key markets.
Overall, 27% of respondents have an automated expense management system in place and 40% say they plan to implement one over the next two years.
CSR is still a damp squib. While travel programmes are beginning to adopt CSR initiatives, stated intentions outweigh tangible actions, such as sustainability criteria in procurement, says the survey.
The survey used a sample of 333 BCD travel customers globally.
