castrated ram with a bell around its neck. He leads the flock, allowing shepherds to follow their sheep even when visibility is poor. Given that business travel is closely
READING A
bellwether, as all waxed jacket-wearing, country-loving Buying Business T
ravel readers know, is a
tied to GDP growth, corporate card spend is usually a pretty reliable bellwether of economic success, or lack of it. On that basis, figures from various card providers for the whole of 2011 and early 2012 are tinkling away very nicely, suggesting 2011 was one ding-dong of a year, although there may not be quite such a whole lot of shaking going on over the next few months. For American Express, for example,
travel and entertainment transaction numbers rose 8 per cent in Europe in 2011, while the number of flights paid
12 Buying Business Travel 2012 International T
through AirPlus International rose 16 per cent. “We have never seen a year with more business travel than 2011,” says Patrick Diemer, chairman of the executive board for AirPlus. “All of our customers increased their business with us beyond our previous record year of 2008.” The recently released AirPlus ravel Management
Study suggests that business travel will, if anything, continue to increase in spite of the euro crisis and other events applying the brakes to growth.
Corporate cards are a rich source of management information. Amon Cohen reports on how card data can help reveal the state of the business travel sector today – and tomorrow…
theSIGNS
Of the 100 UK travel managers interviewed for the study, only 9 per cent anticipate a fall in business trips over the next 12 months, while 29 per cent forecast an increase in trips, and the rest predict no change.
HIGH-FLYING PRICES While economic planners may take heart from this optimism, the more immediate challenge for travel managers and budget holders is that they are paying considerably more for travel than at the height