A small majority of
corporate travel buyers recently polled by the Global Business Travel
Association indicated that 2012 airline contract targets are
"stricter" than they had been, while a large majority expect
negotiated discounts "to be the same or worse" for both airlines and
hotels.
Seventy-four percent of
307 North American corporate travel buyers surveyed expect 2012 air discounts
to be no better than this year; 88 percent expect likewise for hotel discounts.
Respondents on average
expect 2012 domestic U.S. airfares to increase 5 percent year over year to $487
and international premium and economy airfares to rise around 4 percent to
$4,929 and $1,193, respectively. They also expect 2012 U.S. hotel rates to grow
on average by 4.1 percent to $165. These forecasts generally are in line with
those recently published by several travel management companies.
The GBTA Foundation,
which conducted its survey in September, also released Asia/Pacific poll
results derived from 409 corporate travel buyers based in that region.
A slightly smaller
percentage than their North American counterparts indicated that volume and
marketshare thresholds in airline contracts had become stricter for 2012 (45
percent versus 53 percent). Most surveyed buyers in Asia/Pacific also expect
discounts negotiated for next year to stay flat or become less favorable for
both airfares (77 percent) and hotel rates (76 percent).
Similar to North
American observations, Asia/Pacific buyers on average expect airline and hotel
pricing in 2012 to each increase by 4 percent to 6 percent.