Business Travel Expenses In China: Enterprises Begin To Adopt Employee Centered Travel Projects.

The barometer of China business travellers is an annual report on the status quo of China's business travel market and the forecast of its future development trend. In 2016, a total of 200 top Chinese executives were surveyed. They came from small businesses ranging from 100 to less than 500 or more. These enterprises are distributed in major economic regions of China, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and other second-tier cities. Most of the companies surveyed are in manufacturing, technology, financial services and pharmaceutical industries. According to media reports in the first half of this year, China has surpassed the United States and become the largest country in the global business travel market. The barometer of this year shows that the average growth rate of China's business travel in 2016 is 4.86%, which is in line with the growth rate of 4.8% in 2015, and is also consistent with the expected growth rate of 4.42% in 2015.

Of all the enterprises interviewed, 52% of the enterprises indicated that the business travel budget in the past 12 months remained stable, and 61% of the enterprises indicated that they would not increase the budget in 2017. The instability of the economic environment at this stage is obviously affecting the decision of the enterprises. However, most enterprises involved in the visit said that business travel is a core function of enterprises, and they will continue to invest and improve existing travel projects. Another 36% said they needed to find a smarter and effective way to allocate their business budget. 29% of companies say they are trying to increase the number of business trips to speed up business growth.

According to the barometer, compared with 2015, the proportion of international business travel has decreased. The proportion of domestic airline tickets increased from 66% last year to 73% this year, while international business travel decreased from 19% last year to 15%. The difference between international and domestic business travel costs is mainly due to the current business trend in China. For example, although China's economy is slowing down, enterprises still focus on developing local businesses and become more conservative when it comes to international business travel.

According to our survey, according to our survey, because of the continued instability of the economic environment, enterprises are becoming more conservative in the growth of business travel expenses, according to our survey, Macro Pellizzer Mr. Yu, vice president of American business and global business travel in Hongkong. However, enterprises fully recognize the importance of business travel in helping business growth, so they are groping for a smarter, more innovative and efficient way to manage their travel projects. At the same time, in order to cope with the increase of global environmental instability, business leaders pay more attention to ensuring their safety than ever before.

This year's barometer also shows that businesses are concerned not only with cost savings but also with better support for their employees in improving their travel projects. The barometer shows that the three most important factors in the formulation of a travel policy are the safety of employees, the physical and mental state of employees, and the efficiency of employees in business trips and business trips. Of all enterprises that have changed their corporate travel policies in the past 12 months, 28% of them said they were better responsible for their employees. In terms of actual policy changes, 57% of enterprises increased investment in safety service providers, 47% of enterprises forced booking of air tickets in designated institutions, and 32% of enterprises forced to make hotel reservations in designated institutions.

Barometer also found that nearly 30% of enterprises said they would consider updating their travel policies in the future to better meet the needs of travelers, which will mainly be reflected in safety. 60% of respondents said they could use different levels of shared economic services, up 7% from 2015. This also proves that the trend of business travel is developing towards a better way to satisfy travellers' preferences. The share of shared economic services in the business travel plan is expected to continue to grow: 56% of the surveyed enterprises are expected to adopt the service in the next 12 months.

Besides enterprises, they attach more importance to business travel. Safety Besides, barometer also found that 35% of the surveyed enterprises thought that the enterprise's travel projects could also become one of the competitiveness of enterprises. Compared with 2015, enterprises with such thoughts increased by 16%. With the increasingly fierce competition in the Chinese talent market, it is expected that the use of better travel projects to attract employees and retain talented people is expected to become a new trend.

In 2015, the survey showed that the frequency of companies using multiple travel management companies or agencies decreased. This year's survey data have not changed significantly in this respect, but 59% of the companies using multiple travel management companies or agency companies say they are considering streamlining the agency to save costs or streamline the operation process. The findings further support the trend of China's local companies and multinationals in travel management over the past few years, namely streamlining and optimizing their travel. Management project We fully recognize the benefits brought by economies of scale and the shortcomings of resource duplication. When choosing a cooperation with an external travel management company, the three most important considerations are "high quality customer service", "competitive price" and "control and care for the behavior of the travelers".

　　 barometer It also shows that enterprises attach great importance to financial reporting and control measures. The number of travel expenses reported by the travel management company and the cost management system accounted for 50% of all the respondents, compared with 43% in 2015. It is expected that more and more companies will choose professional travel management companies to provide such services in the future. 53% of the surveyed companies have launched projects to enhance their travel technology solutions in the past 12 months, demonstrating the willingness to continue to seek and adopt new technologies to improve travel management and provide travelers with better experiences.

Mr. Pellizzer concluded: "regardless of the economic environment, experienced business leaders are seeking new profit opportunities, and travel management will go hand in hand with these opportunities. The design and execution of enterprise travel management projects need to take full account of the business objectives and efficiency of enterprises. This is very important. In addition, employee safety, productivity and happiness are also important components of an enterprise's success. Travel policy can play an important role in attracting, retaining and motivating employees. Enterprises should enrich their knowledge, invest in innovation, and make full use of the experience and knowledge of professional travel management companies to benefit their overall travel projects.