Benchmarking Europe's Biggest 2009: As European Spend Dives, Vendors Ready To Deal

The Business Travel News/Association of Corporate Travel Executives third annual European Top-Market Benchmarking Report, along with a discussion among survey participants at October's annual ACTE Global conference in Prague, provided more evidence of how dramatically the European travel buying landscape has transformed over the past 12 months. Spending is down, but opportunities for more tightly controlled management of travel programs are up. More than 30 corporations, each spending a minimum of €20 million annually on European booked air travel and some exceeding €100 million, contributed detailed figures for the study. The companies represent a wide range of sectors, including pharmaceutical, technology, banking, retail and manufacturing. A paradox of the recession has been that companies are spending less, yet their negotiating strength with suppliers arguably has never been greater. Nor has the growing power of travel managers been confined to their dealings with external suppliers. Improved control over internal stakeholders, especially travelers, is evident across the benchmarks in this report.  Source: www.btnonline.com Read the full report at benchmarking Europe's biggest