Almost half of UK travel managers will spend more on travel over the next 12 months than they did last year, a study from corporate card provider Airplus has found.
In a study of 847 buyers, which analyses travel trends for the coming year, 44 per cent said their business travel spend will increase, with 39 per cent staying the same and 16 per cent decreasing.
The study also showed that digital payments are on the rise with almost half of global buyers saying they will have a “major” affect on business travel in 2016.
Airplus analysed the trends and found that more are increasingly IT-driven. Data security, big data and social media will all be important this year.
Stable growth
Airplus said it achieved strong growth in fiscal year 2015 despite a “weak business travel market worldwide”.
The company achieved a total invoicing volume with its credit cards of around €13.8 billion compared with €12.7 billion in 2014.
Revenues rose around 2.8 per cent in 2015 to €329 million. Earnings before interest and taxes for the year amounted to €51.7 million, compared to €46.3 million in 2014.
“Airplus prevailed in a tough market with very good results,” said Airplus chairman Patrick Diemer. “The demand for professional payment solutions for business travel is unabated. In 2015, we were able to acquire more than 3,000 new corporate clients worldwide. That is treble the number of new clients in the previous year.”
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