A new survey has found that half of British companies would take more than an hour to track down travelling employees in a crisis.
The research by the UK and Ireland Institute of Travel Management (ITM) and Argate Consulting found that while 77% of companies said they knew where their travellers were, only 50% could locate them within an hour.
The survey, which questioned 80 travel buyers with a combined spend of £800m, also found that only 39% of companies used agencies which could forewarn on possible danger spots or crisis areas.
Paul Tilstone, executive director of ITM, said the research made clear the need for "a set of basic, achievable standards for tracking business travellers."
He added: "As well as raising the issue of organisations' duty of care towards their travellers, this also highlights a lack of business continuity or contingency planning, especially amongst travel management companies (TMCs).
"If TMCs are truly management companies, then knowing where your customers' employees are must be a fundamental part of that service.
"The stumbling block is deciding who pays. If it is part of the service provided by TMCs – or Hotel Booking Agencies (HBAs) – then the cost of providing tracking reports should be identifiable.
"However buyers cannot have their cake and eat it – instead of seeing traveller tracking as a value-added service, buyers have to accept it as a separate travel management cost, the provision of which relies predominantly on manual processes."
Big rise in suppliers expected at Dusseldorf show
More than 85 suppliers have booked stands at the Business Travel Show in Dusseldorf on September 5-7, 30% more than had registered by March for the 2005 event.
Organisers of the show, held at the Messe Dusseldorf and now in its third year, said 80% of the suppliers already registered had exhibited at the first show in 2004.
Details of the seminar programme, now being prepared, will be announced later this year.