Corporate services company Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) is predicting security will outweigh cost savings in 2013 as the main concern for clients.
Clients will focus on consolidating their travel programmes not only to create cost savings, but also to locate travellers quickly during crises, the company says.
Stewart Harvey, Group Commercial Director (pictured), says: “Security is the top issue in all new tenders, literally jumping from the back of the document to the front. In 2012 we saw more clients put security before cost concerns and we expect this trend to continue in 2013. Incidents like the Icelandic volcano eruption and Arab Spring were significant wake-up calls for corporates, who are now more focused on how on to keep track of their employees in the event of an emergency.”
Cost savings will continue to be important to clients in the New Year, according to HRG, with the company expecting travel costs to increase in 2013.
“Unbundling will make price increases less transparent,” says Harvey, who predicts core ticket price rising by one per cent, but individual ancillary fees, such as baggage fees and on-board food and services, likely to go up by 6-8 per cent.
HRG expects clients to prioritise three tasks: consolidation, compliance and control, with Harvey expecting corporates to want to bring everything together into one place.
“Clients want the ability to see all of their travel-related data – including spend and traveller location – at the touch of a button. They also want to fine-tune policies so that they better encourage cost-effective behaviour, and, finally, to keep travel spend down through employee compliance.”
HRG also predicts more clients to take a control-led approach to managing technologies like mobile.
Harvey says: “Mobile technology is truly the new lifestyle norm. However, there isn’t an industry-wide standard when it comes to booking travel on mobile phones.Next year the business community will look to source mobile products that are aligned with corporate travel policies in order to drive compliance and reduce overall spend.”
In terms of growth geographies, Asia Pacific – primarily driven by China – and Latin America – primarily driven by Brazil – will continue to grow as destinations for business travel, but not as quickly as previous years.
Vietnam and Korea may be exceptions to this rule as they develop as corporate hot spots, according to Harvey, who adds: “Emerging markets will continue to attract business travel, but it is ica we need to watch. Although ica is starting from a low base line, many of its markets, such as Nigeria, are poised to grow substantially over the next decade.”
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