NBTA Report Indicates Continued Strength in Business Travel Market
NOVEMBER 22, 2006. The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) today provided its members with the 2007 Business Travel Overview and Cost Forecast.
The report, based on a survey of NBTA Direct (travel manager) members, is designed to assist with the corporate travel planning and budgeting process. The survey results point to continued strength in the business travel market, and to the steps travel managers are taking to contain costs and drive value for their companies in a strong market.
Following are some key findings:
o The majority of survey respondents (67.7%) expect their companies' travelers to take more trips in 2007 than 2006.
o 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%).
o The majority of respondents anticipate higher hotel spend next year as compared to this year, for reasons including higher rates (84.1%), more trips (60.3%) and more travelers (47.6%).
o The percentages anticipating higher air travel spend and higher hotel spend are greater than in the same survey one year ago.
o 56.1 percent 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 33 percent who reported using corporate jets or charters in 2004, and 27 percent in 2002.
o More than three quarters (76.9%) 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.
o 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%).
o More than four in ten respondents (41.9%) plan to push their TMCs to implement direct connects in order to cut costs. More than one third (34.4%) plan to explore possible shared distribution savings via usage of GDS New Entrants (GNE) or direct connects. More than one third (34.2%) anticipate implementing e-folio hotel data in the effort to trim costs.
The full report is available to NBTA members at no cost via the association's website -- http://www.nbta.org/Research/Surveys.
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