Travelers participating in a mandated travel program are significantly less successful with their business travel than those that are less managed or not managed at all, a new report from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and Concur says.
Their Global Business Travel Study findings reveal that travelers under a mandated program are working hard to stay in budget and be compliant, but it is at the price of their personal life and comfort.
Highlights of the report include:
On average 67 percent of business travelers are visiting new destinations although mainly traveling domestically to do so.
The majority of business trips, 33 percent on average, are used for meeting with colleagues, 18 percent for sales, 21 percent for training and or industry conferences and 9 percent for other uses.
Business travelers around the world tend to be college educated, 42 years old on average and two-thirds are male.
In the U.S. 21 percent of travelers are under “mandated” travel programs where they must follow the company’s stated travel policies and/or use the providers or agencies chosen by their company, the report notes.
A third of U.S. business travelers are “unmanaged,” having no stated company guidelines. Nearly half (47 percent) fall in between or “under guidelines” where they may have to follow policies but are only encouraged to use preferred providers, or must use preferred providers but are only encouraged to follow policy.
Looking at all road warriors in the U.S., the study found that they’re clearly working hard and enjoying their trips, but more needs to be done to help them plan and reduce stress while in-transit like making sure they’re comfortable when on the road and ensuring they have the technology to do their jobs, the survey said.
Overall, 74 percent of U.S business travelers stated they were highly satisfied with nearly all aspects of business travel and 81 percent stating they were able to successful reach mission critical business goals with nearly half reporting they’d like to travel more if possible. However, only 62 percent of travelers said they were satisfied with the ability to minimize personal hardships.
To better assess business travelers, the study also introduced the GBTA Business Travel Success Index (GBTA BTSI) sponsored by Concur, an overall measure of the travelers’ perceptions of how well they are able to reach their goals when traveling for work. The index is on a scale of 0-100, where 100 is completely successful in meeting all of their goals.
The study finds that travelers participating in a mandated program – with a BTSI of 72.7 – are significantly less successful with their business travel than those who are under guidelines (BTSI of 76) or unmanaged programs (BTSI of 78.6).
“The most important – and for far too long, the most under represented – component within the corporate travel industry is the business traveler,” said Rajeev Singh, president and COO of Concur. “The research by GBTA shows that business travelers are eager to get on the road and make deals happen, but there is still a great need for companies to provide the technology, support and education to help make those business travelers more comfortable and productive so they can stay focused on business-critical goals."
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