sgusers5的部落格

Companies in Asia still see the need for business travel, even if they are eyeing ways of doing it more efficientlySPENDING on business air travel in Asia is expected to expand over the next year, as the value of meeting customers in person trumps the pressure to trim expenses in the face of an uncertain economic environment.儲存倉In fact, many industry experts predict that corporate travel spending in China could overtake the US, the world's leading market for business travel expenditure, in the next few years."Even with the technology tools available to us, travelling for business purposes, to conduct face-to-face meetings, is still seen as a business imperative. This is particularly true in regions such as Asia where personal relationships are particularly important culturally," said Andi Budd, vice-president and general manager, American Express Global Business Travel, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.According to research conducted by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) last year, on average executives reported that 29 per cent of their company's new sales depended on business travel. Business executives in China reported the largest proportion of sales dependent on business travel with 38 per cent.However, ongoing economic uncertainty - particularly in Europe - is adversely impacting manufacturing and other businesses in the region. This has led to corporate travel managers looking to achieve cost savings where possible in their travel and expense (T&E) spending."Clients have had laser focus this year on optimising their spend and getting the biggest bang for their buck. Companies again have had a strict control on travel for internal purposes as was the case for 2012," said Kelly L Kuhn, president, Asia-Pacific for CWT, a business travel management company.This has resulted in CWT introducing video conferencing into several of its client's programmes. The company's clients have kept their travel spend largely stable, Ms Kuhn added.Some companies are tweaking their travel policies to keep costs at bay, by reducing their use of premium air travel over short distances or limiting the number of hotel, air or other transport providers that they work with.Others are resorting to other modes of transport to stay within leaner budgets. For instance, more executives are travelling through increasingly developed high-speed rail networks in countries such as China that provide a viable alternative to flying on certain routes.But even with an eye on costs, T&E expenses are growing 迷你倉沙田t a decent clip worldwide. At MasterCard, commercial payments - including programmes and services such as corporate cards that allow corporations to manage travel and entertainment expenses - made up about 10 per cent of its global business volume by dollar amount, but has been growing at a faster rate than that of its consumer business.With its relatively buoyant economies, Asia is responsible for a big part of that growth as corporations continue to expand in this region."This has not changed over the last few years, with markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia and China consistently taking the top few spots," said Julienne Loh, general manager, Singapore, MasterCard Worldwide.Outside of travel to traditional growth markets such as China and India, there is also growing interest in emerging countries such as Myanmar, one of the last sizeable frontier economies in Asia.Technology continues to play an important role in corporate travel, not only in displacing the needs to make business trips, but making such trips more seamless and productive.One emerging trend is what is known as SoLoMo, or social local mobile. With a majority of corporate travellers owning a smartphone or tablet, much of the travel experience is being facilitated through mobile devices, said Ms Kuhn."Today's itinerary is digital, check-in is digital and flight status updates are available in the palm of your hand," she said.Modest growth forecastedACCORDING to the 2013 American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor, the majority of chief financial officers (CFOs) in Asia expect to increase their spending on business travel over the next year. However, increases may be modest.Some findings of the report include:44 per cent of CFOs researched expect their spending on business travel to either remain the same or modestly increase or decrease by up to 5 per cent.In Singapore, 49 per cent of CFOs say that they are likely to spend more on business travel this year. However, 26 per cent say that their spending is likely to remain stable.One of the key drivers of business travel is to "meet with current or prospective customers", with 52 per cent of the CFOs in Asia and Australia likely to spend more year-on-year on travelling to meet customers.39 per cent said that they are likely to spend more year-on-year on "travelling to industry conferences, management retreats, or professional development meetings".32 per cent said that they are likely to spend more year-on-year on "travel to internal meetings".迷你倉價錢