DESPITE ALL the economic doom and gloom, 80 per cent of British companies have no plans to impose a freeze on business travel, although a similar percentage are preparing to batten down the hatches with a series of measures to limit non-essential travel.
Even the 20 per cent of companies which would not rule out a total ban on travel believe that measures to curb business trips would be short-term, lasting no more than three months.
The findings of the latest survey by the Institute of Travel Management (ITM) among its panel of 175 travel managers and procurement professionals suggest that eliminating non-essential travel, greater use of travel alternatives such as video conferencing (76 per cent) and more localised meetings (65 per cent) are the three most popular measures being adopted in the UK and Ireland.
ITM executive director Paul Tilstone confirmed that actions to increase compliance with reduced-travel policies are working, too. "Just under two-thirds of the companies in our survey reported that 75 per cent or more of travellers are complying with directives to reduce or stop travel, or reduce their class of travel," he says. "This shows that in business today cost-cutting measures are both expected and respected by all but the company mavericks."