[ad_1]
Business travel spending is tracking towards a full recovery to 2019 figures by 2024 or 2025, but higher costs and environmental concerns will keep the sector below pre-pandemic levels in “real terms”, according to a Deloitte survey of more than 300 corporate travel managers in Europe and the US.
The study, which included the views of 228 European travel managers from across Spain, Germany, France and the UK, showed that spending volume should reach about 57 per cent of 2019 levels in the first half of this year and then increase to 75 per cent by the end of 2023.
The growth, however, is coming amid “an environment of higher airfares and room rates”, which means the actual number of business trips is likely to continue to lag “further behind” spending.
A full recovery in business travel spending appears possible by the end of next year, but the corporate travel market would remain about 10 per cent to 20 per cent below pre-pandemic levels when accounting for inflation, according to the report.
Overall recovery trajectories are similar for both US and European travel managers, although long-haul international trips are recovering more quickly among US companies.
In Europe, travel managers expect 28 per cent of spending to be on travel outside the continent, compared with 34 per cent in 2019. Whereas in the US, international travel is back to around one-third of overall spending this year – a similar level to 2019.
While travel buyers have been facing a tougher negotiating landscape with suppliers, most buyers said they were satisfied with their results, although this figure was lower in Europe than the US.
Just over half of European travel managers (54 per cent) said that airline pricing was favourable this year. Whereas in the US, this figure was higher at 63 per cent. The responses were similar for hotel agreements, according to Deloitte.
“In both regions, travel buyers generally believe that suppliers are taking a long-term view of their relationships versus pressing their advantage in the moment,” said the report.
Most buyers said they have not been limiting trip frequencies due to higher costs and have instead asked travellers to book cheaper flights and hotels, according to Deloitte.
The survey also looked at sustainability and found that more than 40 per cent of all buyers were working to reduce their environment impact through their corporate travel policy.
Around one-fifth of European travel managers said their travel programmes will see sustainability-related reductions in 2023 – higher than their US counterparts where it was only one in seven managers.
Larger percentages of travel managers are planning for longer-term reductions, however, with about a third of US travel managers and 40 per cent of European travel mangers saying travel per employee will have to decrease by 20 per cent or more by 2030 to meet their sustainability targets.
[ad_2]
Source link