The vast majority of UK bosses believe that business travel is “critical to company profitability”, according to a survey commissioned by American Express.
The study of British company executives, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Amex’s corporate payments division, found that 93 per cent believed corporate travel was critical to their business while 89 per cent said travel boosted sales.
It also found that 89 per cent of bosses thought that travel was critical to retaining existing customers in the current economic climate.
Just under half of executives (48 per cent) said their companies were now going on more business trips than three years ago while another 21 per cent were maintaining previous levels of travel.
Karen Penney, Amex’s vice president of global corporate payments, said: “UK companies have identified business travel as an important catalyst for economic growth.
“Clearly the globalisation of the economy has led companies to prioritise business travel to gain new business.
“However, the research shows companies will be placing a strategic emphasis on their travel programmes, with a focus on holding down costs to maximise their return on investment.”
The study also found that 91 per cent of executives were travelling every month while 48 per cent went on business trips every week.
The number of firms doing the majority of their travel within the UK has declined to 20 per cent (from 32 per cent three years earlier), while those travelling mostly to western European fell from 41 per cent to 39 per cent.
There has also been a shift to travel to emerging markets – particularly to China, where 7 per cent of businesses say they are now doing most of their travel, compared to zero three years ago.
The report, entitled Business on the move:How globalisation is changing the travel plans of European executives, was compiled following a survey of 318 executives across Europe plus a separate series of interviews with bosses and analysts.
Around two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents were based in the UK, France and Germany, with the other 35 per cent from other western European countries.
business.americanexpress.com