The importance of cutting costs still outweighs the travel buyers attention to green issues, according to a survey.
Some 169 travel managers worldwide were surveyed by Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) as part of its Travel Management Priorities for 2010: Decisive Opportunities for Success report.
When asked what would become a higher priority in 2010, 60% of respondents said they would focus on improving hotel spend, 55% said they would improve traveller compliance and 50% said they wanted to make savings on air and ground transport.
Only 13% said that making their travel programme environmentally friendly would be more important this year.
Cathy Voss, CWT's executive vice president of global programme solutions, said: "Driving savings was the mandate for travel managers throughout 2009. Often, this meant reducing business travel. It also meant applying the fundamentals of smart travel management more diligently than ever.
"This will be the case in 2010 as well, even as the economy improves and business travel picks up."
The report said that green initiatives are now a common topic in the travel industry - but, "the lack of clear and common standards across the industry makes it difficult for travel managers to implement green initiatives."
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