BTC Study Shows 25 Percent of Companies Cutting Travel in Response to Crisis

The Business Travel Coalition undertook a 48-hour online survey of corporate travel managers last week for a quick and current reading of the effects of this fall’s financial crisis on corporate travel buying in the U.S. and abroad.

Three-quarters of respondents were from the U.S. with the remainder scattered in 13 other countries.

In addition to any travel reductions that might have already occurred in a troubled 2008, a 25.5 percent of respondents reported their companies had implemented emergency travel cutbacks as a direct result of the financial crisis.

Among those with new spending cuts, 34.4 percent said their companies imposed a freeze on travel, and 18.8 percent said their companies mandated cuts of a set percent. More than two-thirds (68.8 percent) said the emergency cutbacks were in place until further notice.

A third said their employers this year had cut back on the use of the major airlines and turned to low-cost carriers more often. Half of respondents said their corporations planned to spend more in 2009 for technologies such as video conferencing in order to reduce air travel.

As much as 11.6 percent said they are instructing travel agencies to offer technological substitutes for air (such as video conferencing) at the point of sale, before an air ticket is booked. Another 8.8 percent said they were considering making this requirement.