Carlson Wagonlit Travel handled nearly 29.4 million air,
hotel and car rental transactions globally in the first six months of 2010, an
increase of 13.2 percent on the same period in 2009, the travel management
company said Thursday. Sales volume rose 16.6 percent to $12.3 billion,
implying a rise in average transaction price for corporate clients. The figures
relate to all of CWT's wholly owned operations and joint ventures.
There were significant variations in sales volume by region.
North America grew 18.2 percent, but slower economic recovery meant Europe was
up only 7.7 percent. In contrast, Asia/Pacific surged ahead, up 43.5 percent,
as did Latin America, up 48.1 percent.
Some of these increases were accounted for by new sales of
$781 million for the period, excluding renewals. Client retention was 96
percent.
"Business travel is back on the corporate agenda, but
if we compare figures for the first six months of this year to the first half
of 2008, we can see traffic has not yet returned to pre-recessionary levels,"
said CWT president and chief executive officer Douglas Anderson.
On Tuesday, HRG, a rival global TMC, reported that client expenditure for the three months to June 30 was up 19 percent on the same
period the previous year.
CWT also reported a series of indicators that suggests the
meetings market is recovering. In Europe, clients organized 30 percent of their
meetings outside their home country, compared with 20 percent in the first six
months of 2009. Average spending per participant per day jumped from €150
($195) to €175 ($228) and cancellations fell from 15 percent to 10 percent.