More than half of travel buyers have reported a reduced travel budget over recent years, according to BCD Travel’s recent study of over 200 travel buyers worldwide, looking into modern corporate travel policies and changes happening due to shifting priorities and trends.
Almost all buyers have introduced cost-control measure to encourage online meetings in favour of non-essential travel, encouraging fewer but longer trips, and limiting the number of employees on one trip.
Other measures include implementing strict expense control, booking lower classes of air travel, and encouraging the use of public transportation instead of taxis.
The biggest challenge travel buyers face when updating company policies lies in the realm of educating travellers and controlling policy compliance, according to BCD Travel.
According to respondents, the most common way to communicate travel policy updates is through the company intranet, followed by direct mailing. BCD Travel has suggested that companies introduce the travel policy during employee onboarding, which can help to build transparency, help new hires feel informed, and foster a culture of preparedness and responsibility.
Overall, almost two-thirds of travel buyers expect sustainability, safety and security to have the strongest impact on corporate travel policies in the upcoming years, while bleisure and DE&I are not likely to make any considerable impact on existing travel policies.
Yet, sustainable travel still has a long way to go, with less than half of those surveyed recording sustainable travel included in their company’s travel policies. As for diversity efforts, most companies have dedicated travel policies for senior employees, specific business units, and frequent travellers, but find themselves lacking when it comes to travellers with accessibility needs, neurodivergent travellers, employees with special needs, and LGBTQIA+ travellers.
Traveller satisfaction losing ground
Traveller satisfaction, once seen as one of the top priorities from 2021 to 2023, dipped to fourth place in this year’s results; payment and expense were also found to rank in lower importance.
However, the top three travel programme priorities were found to be duty of care, policy compliance and cost control – all three ranked highly in last year’s survey and have been found to gain importance since.
The survey also found that the two most commonly covered themes in travel policies – which act as a company’s guide for managing business travel – were trip purpose and pre-trip approvals.
Notably, differences may arise from how policies are defined – seven in 10 surveyed noted that their travel policies are aligned with their company goals and are supported by leadership within the company. However, only three in 10 surveyed described their company’s travel policies as “traveller-centric”.
Tags:BCD Travel, travel buyers
