Finding an effective way to calculate the return on investment (ROI) of business travel continues to elude the corporate sector, the BBT Forum was told.
While there have been several reports highlighting the financial benefits of business travel – HRS’s Jon West pointed out that these were reports produced by the business travel sector.
“Every bit of research on the ROI of travel came from within the industry,” said West at the BBT Forum in London.
“Are we just conning ourselves when talking about investment? I cannot find anything to say travel is an investment. ROI is very complex to measure - you can reduce costs if you don’t travel but can travel generate revenue?”
Tony McGetrick (pictured), BCD Travel’s director of sales and marketing, agreed that ROI was “hard to substantiate and tie down”.
But he added: “If I was a shareholder of a company and I found out they had a travel ban that resulted in people not going to meet new clients and potentially growing sales, then I would not be happy or impressed.”
Several buyers said that travel budgets were among the first to be cut when companies were enduring hard times and there seemed little prospect of this changing.
Gail Cooke, Optimum Procurement’s principal advisor travel, said: “Travel is the first area of the budget to be cut when times are tough. Travel is an area that needs investment to gain reward – not just for growth but also at times to stand still. You have to connect and meet with clients face-to-face.
“We face challenges to the travel budget on a daily basis and we have to manage reduced budgets.”
Alan Ryan, regional travel manager EMEA for SITA Aero, added that travel along with consultancy fees and marketing were “easy to cut”.
“I don’t think travel is being treated any differently from other departments,” said Ryan.