Two decades of business travel under the microscope

Almost a generation! In the space of twenty years, the conditions under which business travel takes place have undergone radical change. "Travelling economically, avoiding abuse, how to make your service provider work for you? These were the issues at stake in the early 1990s, and also one of the themes addressed in the 1st edition of our barometer", recalls American Express Business Travel. At the time, the rules governing travel were not always formalised: 37% of companies had defined a general framework and allowed travellers a great deal of flexibility. They trust their employees when it comes to travel

The crisis taught us a lesson: 1992 was an era of controls, with prior authorisation becoming the rule for 70 % of companies (compared with 60 % the previous year). Checks were systematic (82 % compared with 67% in 1991) and 49 % of companies had a travel policy (+7 points). In addition, two-thirds of companies have introduced an insurance and assistance policy to protect their employees.

It is no longer the frequency of journeys that predominates - their duration is tending to decrease - but their cost. And so the hunt begins for preferential fares.

Increasing rail weight

In addition, the roll-out of the TGV Nord, followed by the Atlantique at the end of 1993, is beginning to influence the way business travellers travel. As distances and journey times shrank, the TGV gained market share on routes where it was competing with air travel; Lyon, for example.

The emergence of alternatives can be measured as early as 1996: one company in two requires its employees to travel economy class, whatever the destination. Another finding: 38 % of companies recommend the TGV, both in France and abroad. For example, to London with Eurostar or to Brussels with Thalys. Year on year, rail's share of expenditure is growing. From 2001 onwards, air transport's share of expenditure stabilised at 50 %.

Introduced in 1995 in the wake of the Gulf War, videoconferencing, a virtual means of communicating, is growing in popularity. Employees are more aware of their responsibilities, and know that their business travel expenses are being scrutinised (expense reports: 95 %, budget monitoring: 85 %, trend towards a priori control: 60 % compared with 50 % in 1995). In 1997, 90 % of companies analysed their travel activity, in a more or less sophisticated way. In order to spend less, they are looking for even more competitive rates, reducing the length of trips and limiting the number of employees travelling together," continues American Express Business Travel. To keep their travel budgets down, one company in two prefers economy class on planes and trains".

Technological upheaval

At the end of the 1990s, reservation systems (Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo) evolved and quality control tools (robotisation) were introduced. At the time, e-mail and the Internet were still marginal for ticket reservations. Then, a few years later, online ticketing arrived on this side of the Atlantic and became a new lever for savings through dedicated offers. Online booking tools with validation procedures became increasingly common (14 % of companies say they use online booking tools).

To contain expenditure, travel managers are introducing increasingly strict rules and extending the scope of their policy to include hotels and business meetings.

The crisis in autumn 2008 acted as an accelerator for latent trends: a desire for visibility (61 % of companies said they had full information on their expenditure, compared with 37 % in 2008), for control of said expenditure, and for the definition or review of internal rules. In 2009, nine out of ten companies had a travel policy. After the wake-up call of the severe financial crisis, employees are starting to travel again, but their journeys must be justified. Currently, almost 60 % of a company's travel budget is devoted to maintaining or winning new business. The next task is to measure the return on investment in travel.