Back to cattle class: Companies lowered travel expenditure

More than one-third business travellers polled by a travel portal said their business trips in 2012 have reduced significantly over last year because companies have cut down on travel expenditure.

More than one-third business travellers polled by a travel portal said their business trips in 2012 have reduced significantly over last year because companies have cut down on travel expenditure.

HT Image

This was one of the findings of a survey conducted by travel portal TripAdvisor that polled 1300 frequent fliers.

Cost of air travel and hotel stay across the globe has increased significantly over last year owing to increase in the jet fuel cost, depreciation of the Indian Rupee and hike in service taxes.

The survey found that in addition to cutting of business trips, many Indian companies had also switched to lower class travel and stay for their employees.

“Survey results show that more than one-third of the respondents confirmed a decline in work trips this year as against 2011, which indicates that organisations are growing careful and vigilant of their travel spends” said Nikhil Ganju, country manager, TripAdvisor India.

The survey also found that many companies do not encourage night stay for staff travelling on work. The survey also reflected that frequent fliers look as business trips as a “break for usual office work”.