Travel buyers: Meetings spending to remain flat in 2009
National Business Travel Association survey shows travel costs rising
By Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 11/13/2008 12:50:00 PM
Companies will spend less on meetings in 2009, say travel buyers responding to a survey by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) in Alexandria, Va.
NBTA’s 2009 Business Travel Overview & Cost Forecast shows that 38% of travel buyers expect meetings spending at their companies to remain steady with spending in 2008. Another 31% projects that it will actually decrease next year.
Still, just 19% of survey respondents say they have a strategic meetings management program in place. Another 22% plan to implement one in 2009.
The forecast also shows that 75% of travel buyers are reporting that their companies have increased the use of teleconferencing. Eighty-one percent say technology is replacing trips. Twenty percent say technology is complementing rather than replacing them.
NBTA conducted an online poll of travel buyers this fall and supplemented the results with analysis of research from such sources as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Smith Travel Research.
Overall, the forecast shows that next year business travel will continue to grow but at a slower rate than in 2008.
NBTA projects business travel costs in 2009 (air, hotel, car rentals) to be about 5% to 8% higher than in 2008.
“This year, we saw a slowdown in the growth of business travel from the rate of growth we saw in 2004 through 2007,” says Kevin Maguire, NBTA president and CEO in a statement. “In 2009, we will see a continuation of that slowdown in growth.”
He explains: “The expansion of the trend is the result of measures travel managers are implementing to contain travel costs during an economic downturn. The measures vary widely from company to company. In some companies, we are already seeing major cutbacks in travel, while other companies have higher travel budgets in place for 2009.”
For the fourth quarter of this year, 56% of travel buyers responding to the survey say they’ve implemented cost cutting measures. Another 23% say it’s business as usual for their companies.
See also: How to control travel costs
See also: NBTA 2008 presents an opportunity for travel procurement to make a difference
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