VDR analysis on business travel featuring “hit lists” about economic partners

Two in three businesses in Germany work with travel agencies. It is not the well-established travel management companies that dominate here, however, but rather individual agencies without affiliation to brands, chains or corporations who top the “hit list” of booking and realization figures of business trips, leading over BCD Travel Germany, Lufthansa City Center, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and FCm Travel Solutions. This was one of the conclusions of the “2009 VDR Business Travel Analysis” conducted by “Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V.” (VDR – German Travel Management Association).

“Neighborhood travel agencies being the favorites of the German economy is bound to baffle travel experts,” VDR president Dirk Gerdom commented on the findings of the survey. Especially since – without wanting to question the professional competence of individual travel agencies – modern know-how, access to cost-saving technologies and value-for-money networks are something rather to be expected from travel management companies. “Long-time business partners can be a luxury,” the business travel expert warns and advises, “promoting travel agencies with consideration to all affected parties in the market may lead to unimagined boosts in effectivity, increased transparency and new clarity!”

The complete outcome of the “2009 VDR Business Travel Analysis” will be released on June 30, 2009. It will contain representative figures on the economic significance of business travel and corporate mobility, as well as on organizational issues and current travel management related topics. This year’s analysis will again feature “hit lists” of major partners (including travel agencies and foreign car rental companies) who showed the most revenues or bookings generated (these rankings do not represent market share or turnover volume).