The business travel industry has suffered from the "uncertainty" in the global economy during 2012, according to Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s UK boss.
Patrick Andersen, executive vice president UK & Ireland, Nordics and Eastern Europe, for CWT, said: “When we reflect on 2012 uncertainty is a word which comes to mind. We hoped for the best and planned for the worst.
“The first half of this year was quite slow and the second half - we haven’t seen a pick-up in transactions and volume yet, which is quite normal for the environment we are in.”
Andersen was speaking at the company’s annual client event, CWT Exchange, held at the Hilton Tower Bridge Hotel in London earlier this week.
The event included CWT giving delegates its global business travel forecast for 2013 and revealing new technological developments. iPads with the day’s agenda were given out allowing visitors to take part in live polls, ask questions and write notes on the devices throughout the day.
CWT’s business travel forecast for 2013 gave a more positive outlook across the globe industry, with India and China expected to see double-digit growth next year (22 per cent and 14.7 per cent respectively) while Brazil (12.6 per cent) and the US (4.9 per cent) are also predicted to see growth.
But Europe is likely to remain a mixed bag - Germany will see 3.3 per cent growth, while France will remain almost flat at 1.1 per cent and in the UK, business travel will increase by 2.3 per cent.
The meetings and events sector had much more positive news with sales volume for CWT Meetings & Events UK, up 54 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2012.
In one workshop, the TMC focused on how the future would look to make the perfect trip - from the initial request to booking and organising hotels, flights and ground transport.
During the session, delegates were introduced to Carla, a virtual travel assistant, who can help organise meetings.
Carla responds to both written and verbal requests (although the voice recognition struggled with so much background noise at the event – something which will be addressed as it is still in the testing stages).
Once a trip has been organised, Carla talks the traveller through each stage of the journey alerting them to messages and security issues as well as delayed flights or traffic jams.
Vicky Fernandez de Larrea, CWT’s senior vice president Benelux and product marketing EMEA, said: “Maybe this is how meetings will be booked in the future – we have loaded 340,000 routes and combinations to get meetings organised”.
Fernandez de Larrea explained that Carla would work best for small meetings rather than large events and although there is no booking ability, there is the option to select what you need and then pass it on to the booker.
Carla is still in development and will be launched in the first three months of next year. The virtual assistant will be incorporated into CWT’s app CWT To Go and at first will only work on iPhones.
In another workshop on savings, Jon Miller, director of CWT’s Air Solutions Group EMEA, said that ancillary charges should be negotiated at the RFP stage to get the total cost of trips.
For airfares, these charges can make up 10 per cent of the total cost, while hotel amenities are often 33 per cent of total hotel spending.
“Variable items need to be included in the negotiating process and extras should be offered at a discounted rate,” said Miller.
The final panel discussion focussed on video-conferencing, luxury brands, Heathrow capacity and unbundling.
Etihad Airways’ Joost den Hartog vice president Europe also dismissed rumours of the carrier following other Asian and Middle Eastern airlines in introducing a no-frills airline.
“We tried a one-class service with our short-haul flights and our passengers did not appreciate it so we are going back to two-class product, so at this moment the answer is no,” he said.