Global economic uncertainty, including the risk of another recession in the euro zone, has led corporate travel consultant Advito to lower its 2012 forecast for airfare prices in Europe. At the same time, Advito expects tight inventory and strong demand in emerging markets to drive higher costs in Latin America and Asia.

Trips to emerging markets helped push corporate travel to pre-recession levels this year, and travel to those same markets is expected to buoy the industry in 2012, despite economic malaise in Europe and North America, according to the 2012 Industry Forecast released by BCD Travel consulting unit Advito.

The Customer Always Knows Best

Business travelers’ expectations are unavoidably colored by trends in the consumer space—yet the elements that characterize traditional corporate travel program management are far removed from the daily realities of the consumer world. Travel managers need to embrace a model that privileges travelers’ consumer-driven behaviors and expectations, as well as acknowledges the needs and preferences of the Millennial generation, who by 2014 will comprise almost 50 percent of the U.S. workforce.

Advito, leverancier van consultancy diensten op het gebied van zakenreizen, constateert  in de mei update van de 2011 Industry Forecast dat de kosten van luchtvaart in de loop van 2011 verder zullen stijgen. Dit is voornamelijk te wijten aan de olieprijs, die afgezien van een dip in maart dit jaar flink is gestegen.

Corporate travel buyers will face a confluence of factors leading to an increase in the overall cost of travel in 2011, according to the 2011 Industry Forecast by BCD Travel consulting unit Advito. These factors include steadily rising demand, caution by suppliers in adding capacity, earlier closure of lower fare “buckets,” increased application of restrictions to lower fares, and a continuing trend toward ancillary fees and unbundled services.

This white paper provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges for managed travel posed by the inexorable and irreversible rise of social Web (user generated content and social networking) and mobile technology. Secondly, it guides travel program stakeholders in leveraging these concepts to serve the evolving needs, constituents and consumers of corporate travel and meetings within the framework of a managed program.

Merchant fees have become the single-largest distribution cost for airlines, and in recent years, several factors have led air carriers to search for ways to reduce or offset that cost. Unfortunately for corporate travel buyers, any likely move that airlines may take to reduce or offset merchant fees represents an increase in travel program costs.

White Paper : From numbers to action.
Improving travel program management through strategic KPIs and meaningful savings measurements.