Green Business Travel at Risk in the Recession, According to ACTE/KDS Global Survey

London, England (PRWEB) February 10, 2009 - Companies' commitment to improved Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no passing fad, according to the latest annual opinion poll by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (http://www.acte.org) (ACTE) and KDS (http://www.kds.com/en), the European leader in on-demand travel and expense systems. However, 'green' forms of business travel are suffering in the recession, as organisations prioritise cost-saving over supporting sustainable travel.

This is the fourth consecutive year that ACTE and KDS have gauged business opinion on issues around CSR and business travel. The latest survey was conducted between December 2008 and January 2009 and captured the opinions of 329 travel managers and business travellers from around the world, the largest-ever response to an ACTE/KDS survey (http://www.kds.com/en/green-business-travel-at-risk-in-the-recession) and a 52% increase from last year's respondents.

Confounding the sceptics, the study found that companies are not being blown off course by the global recession in seeking to promote CSR:

•    61% of organisations now have a CSR charter (versus 59% in 2008)

•    27% of organisations prefer to do business with suppliers and partners with a CSR charter

•    28% of corporate travel departments are required to report to management on carbon emissions performance

•    The most common CSR activities are reducing energy waste within company buildings (76% of companies), contributing to the local community (55%), cutting carbon emissions in production plans (34%) and using carbon offset arrangements (25%).

However, this commitment to CSR does not automatically translate into greener travel choices, as these often entail higher financial costs. The survey finds that companies see cost-cutting as the top business travel concern (rated a high priority by 79% of companies), while environmentally sustainable travel is a high priority for only 17%. Overall, environmental sustainability is rated only a mid-level priority for business travel, ranked at this level by 48% of organisations.

Greater concern about our impact on the environment appears to be more of a European phenomenon. Only 35% of US respondents said they would consider their carbon emissions when planning business travel, compared to 42% of Europeans.

Meanwhile, the United States has already seen a greater focus on cost-cutting in the travel budget, suggesting that the situation in Europe may well worsen during 2009. Overall, 70% of respondents said their company has sought reductions in the travel budget to save money, but for US organisations the figure was 80%. Similarly, while 54% of respondents said they had been asked to cut their number of business trips because of the economic crisis, for US respondents the figure was 64%.

Susan Gurley, executive director and chief staff officer of ACTE, said, "The survey shows that, contrary to some predictions, Corporate Social Responsibility has not fallen from favour in these challenging times. Instead, the figures show that it is steadily gaining ground and becoming part of the DNA for organisations around the world. However, it also puts to rest the myth that good CSR practices automatically include greener travel choices. Under present economic conditions, green travel choices may frequently conflict with the greater urge to cut costs."

Yves Weisselberger, CEO of KDS, commented, "At this stage, green travel choices remain scarce and are usually more expensive. For example, European companies can send their staff by high speed rail, which is low in emissions but often more expensive than a low-cost flight. However, in the current economy, paying a premium is hard to justify, so green business travel will lose out. Longer term, though, the picture is brighter - companies clearly want to do the right thing through CSR, so once the financial premium is erased, or the economy permits, we should expect to see green business travel become far more popular."

A copy of the full report may be downloaded from the KDS website here (http://www.kds.com/en/green-business-travel-at-risk-in-the-recession).

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Many of the companies that took part in the survey have said they are prepared to discuss their views with the media. Represented companies include H. Lundbeck A/S, BMO financial group, Tourisme Montreal, AAPT Ltd, limagrain, Scor, berger-levrault, BATSA, União de Bancos Brasileiros - Unibanco, Sleepwell AB, IGATE, Class Tour, Derek Smith and Associates, Hotel Association of Canada, Hotel Sourcing Alliance, UNIGLOBE Travel - Sub Saharan Africa, Altadis, S.A., Fields, Community Financial Services Association of America, OKAIDI, PAR Travel Tech, Inc. and AirPlus International. For further information please contact KDS.

About ACTE

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) represents the global business travel industry through its international advocacy efforts, executive level educational programs, and independent industry research. ACTE's membership consists of senior travel industry executives from 82 countries representing the €463 billion business travel industry. With the support of sponsors from every major segment of the business travel industry, ACTE develops and delivers educational programs in key business centers throughout the world. ACTE has representation in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and the United States. For more information on ACTE, please go to www.acte.org.

ACTE 2009 Global Education Conferences:

5-7 April, Washington, D.C.

25-27 October, Prague

About KDS

KDS on demand travel & expense offers a completely integrated solution for travel and expense management, addressing essential needs ranging from travel policy definition and enforcement, to online travel self-booking, to automated travel expense processing and beyond. Every critical procedure can be completed through the KDS ASP offering, resulting in greater efficiencies and associated financial benefits. In addition, KDS offers the most extensive back-end connectivity to airline, car, rail and hotel providers in the industry, ensuring optimized pricing and up-to-the-minute inventory control. For more information, visit www.kds.com.

###