Combating rising travel costs

SINGAPORE – Despite the global economic slowdown, predictions indicate that corporate travel demand in Asia will continue to grow by more than 10 percent through 2009, according to BCD Travel’s 2008 Travel Programme Survey, which represents the views of 333 BCD Travel clients.

Insight on Corporate Travel, an analysis of and commentary on the survey results, reveals that increasing demand and escalating travel costs represent significant challenges for travel and procurement managers across the Asia Pacific region.

In order to address rising travel costs, BCD Travel advises corporate travel programme managers to keep a close watch on market changes in schedule offerings, pricing and corporate discounts; analyse the impact of market changes in travel spend and evaluate realistic alternatives to control costs; continuously look for policy compliance and preferred vendor improvement opportunities; highlight incremental corporate discount savings and market inflation avoidance provided by guaranteed fares; and evaluate and implement realistic policy changes and travel volume reduction.