UK companies are set to spend more on business travel this year as they look to grow their overseas sales, according to research by American Express.
The study, which polled more than 500 senior finance directors around the world, found that 66 per cent of UK-based financial officers expected to spend more on corporate travel in 2013 compared to last year.
The report, entitled Global Business and Spending Monitor, found that UK bosses were expecting to invest in travel “primarily to build customer relationships” – 28 per cent said they were likely to spend more on travel to meet current or prospective customers with another 59 per cent expecting to spend the same as last year.
The vast majority of UK finance directors - 85 per cent - also said they would be spending more or the same as last year on travelling to meet suppliers.
Brendan Walsh, Amex’s senior vice president for global corporate payments, said: “UK businesses pursuing a growth agenda recognise the huge potential of overseas markets. Clearly, this has led to a willingness to increase investments in business travel in the year ahead.
“However, in the current economic environment, UK executives reveal a cautious, meaning that we can expect companies to focus on getting value for money and a significant ROI for their investments.”
UK finance directors said that their companies remained focused on developed markets for growth with 41 per cent expecting to export more to these countries in 2013, compared to 17 per cent who expect more exports to emerging markets.
However they still expect to expand their activities in some of the key emerging markets such as India, China, Brazil and South Africa.