Avis Rent a Car today released the findings from its annual business traveller research, Corporate Connections. Surveying 2,500 business personnel from across Europe, it revealed an optimistic outlook for the field and despite a challenging 2012, predicts UK business travel will see a 27% increase through the coming year – up from a 20% growth between 2011-2012.
The research revealed just how integral a job travel plays in modern business, with 50% of respondents already travelling for work (not commuting) at least one time a month during the last twelve months, 15% travelling weekly and seven% every day.
Significantly, the findings revealed a growing demand from business travellers to maximize business opportunities in emerging markets, reminiscent of Asia and Latin America, with travel from the united kingdom to those new destinations rocketing 21% between 2011 and 2013.
Kaye Ceille, Managing Director at Avis UK, said of the findings: “Understanding the purposes of our customers and evolving our service in accordance with their requirements is what drives our business. Business travel isn’t limited to only one location – in today’s turbulent environment, businesses should be flexible enough to follow new opportunities in emerging markets. At Avis, we’re equipped to deal with this need, internationally and locally, with our network of over 5,200 locations operating in 165 countries.”
Service over price
The research also discovered that despite businesses tightening their purse strings, service, not price, was the key factor for business travellers when determining a travel provider, with 20% choosing quality and 17% speed of service with the rest of respondents choosing:
· Online booking solutions (14%)
· Loyalty offers (5%)
· Exclusive incentives (4%)
The strong affinity with service helps to give an explanation for the high levels of loyalty amongst business travellers to a specific travel provider, with 88% saying that they are going to often or always use an analogous brand, 12% higher than the ecu average, placing business travellers inside the UK amongst essentially the most loyal.
Kaye Ceille added: “Despite economic pressures, it’s reassuring that British businesses still value quality over cost. We recognise that for our business travellers, speed and customer support is a concern and as such we provide innovative products inclusive of online check-in and Avis Preferred, the fastest and most convenient technique to rent cars.”
Convenience is key
Car travel remains the preferred approach to transport amongst business travellers with 64% of responses stating they travel by car, when compared with 24% for public transport and 11% for air travel. The incentive for selecting car travels is convenience in response to 81% of respondents, significantly sooner than cost, which was only ranked because the most significant factor by 32% of travellers.
The importance of convenience was further demonstrated when respondents were asked to think about the head three factors which might influence their collection of business vehicle. 27% of respondents believed vehicle delivery and collection was important, followed by road side assistance (25%) and GPS (19%).
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