News TMCs
COMPANIES TRYING TO GET A GRIP ON MEETINGS SPEND
HRG SAYS THE MAJORITY of companies do not know how much they spend on meetings and events. Research showed 56 per cent of firms could not put a figure on this area of their spending, although at the same time 53 per cent were looking to spend more on meetings in the next 12 months. HRG director Amanda Hanlin said companies now wanted to see how much they were spending on meetings across their global businesses. “Gaining visibility of spend is the most urgent priority for clients,” she said. “On the whole, they have no idea what they are spending across their markets or who is doing what. They want to start to get control and compliance.” Hanlin said travel management companies were well placed to look at what clients were spending on meetings and events because they had been analysing travel data for years. “Having had experience of transient consolidation, we are well versed in what works and what doesn’t when going down the consolidation route,” she said. “We can give consultative advice to customers. “We can offer visibility, control and cost savings through
consolidation of their programme. We can also compare transient spend with meetings spend if required.” Hanlin added that HRG could also look at how companies were utilising their internal meeting space. “What’s the point of sending staff out to an external meeting when 70 per cent of their own meeting rooms are available?” she said.
RAIL
Thetrainline.com and Evolvi expand plain-paper ticketing
ONLINE RAIL BOOKING specialists Thetrainline. com and Evolvi are vying to offer corporates more plain-paper ticketing. Both companies say demand for this – printing tickets with a barcode onto plain paper on any home or office printer – is strong from business travel buyers. Thetrainline. com is now offering ‘print your own’ tickets to TMCs and corporates booking on the East Coast and East Midlands Trains services. It already offers this ability for advance tickets on services operated by Virgin, Cross Country, Greater
Anglia, Grand Central, First Hull and First Great Western. Meanwhile, Evolvi, which works exclusively with TMCs, has claimed a first with a flexible fare plain-paper ticket for corporate travellers – as opposed to a fixed validity advance fare ticket – on Chiltern Railways. The Premium Economy package offers more spacious seats, plug points, free wifi, hot drinks and an at-seat steward service. Evolvi claims a 55 per cent share of the UK’s corporate agency rail booking and fulfilment market. n See rail feature, p90
IN BRIEF
n The merged carriers TAM and LAN have confirmed their choice of Oneworld as the alliance for the consolidated group, meaning that TAM will leave Star Alliance in early 2014.
n Scottish TMC Business Travel Solutions is expanding, opening new offices in London, Manchester and Aberdeen. The Glasgow-based company is ranked 43 in BBT’s annual 50 leading TMCs list (see p57).
n IHG has agreed to sell its landmark Intercontinental Park Lane property on London’s Hyde Park Corner to Middle Eastern investment group Constellation Hotels, for £301.5 million. IHG will continue to manage the property under a 30-year contract, with options to extend for a further 30 years. • Q&A with IHG chief Richard Solomons, p10
n Easyjet now flies daily between Gatwick and Bergen. The new route coincides with an increase in capacity on Easyjet’s Gatwick- Copenhagen route, which has now moved from three to four flights a day.
AIRLINES
GULF CARRIERS’ HUB STRATEGY PAYS OFF
MIDDLE EASTERN CARRIERS are grabbing a bigger share of the air passenger market between Europe and Asia. New research from Amadeus Air Traffic Travel Intelligence found that 15 per cent of passengers travelling from Europe to Asia or Australasia are now routing through the airports of Doha, Abu Dhabi or Dubai – the home airports of Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates respectively. The report found there was a 20 per cent increase in people travelling from Europe to Asia through these Middle Eastern airports in 2012 – this compares to an overall 7 per cent rise in Europe- to-Asia air traffic last year. Asia saw the biggest increase in total passenger numbers in 2012, rising by 9 per cent to 787 million, while Europe saw a 4 per cent increase to 680 million passengers, and North America just a 2 per cent rise to 597 million. Globally, air travel rose by 5 per cent last year to 2.5 billion passengers. The report also found that Asia enjoyed the highest level of competition on its air routes with 75 per cent having at least three airlines operating on each route. Europe only had this level of competition on 55 per cent of its routes, while North America had at least three competing carriers on 66 per cent of routes. Pascal Clement, Amadeus’s head
of Travel Intelligence, said: “This data provides good news for the airline industry, showing that passenger air traffic has increased in every region of the world from 2011 to 2012.”
7
www.buyingbusinesstravel.com
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