NEWS

Earlier this month MAPFRE ASSISTANCE (www.mapfreassistance.co.uk), released new research that disclosed that business people in the property, leisure, entertainment and travel industries expect to see a significant increase in the amount of overseas travel they undertake for work over the coming 12 months.

The findings reveal that four in ten (42%) business travellers in the property sector expect the amount they travel to increase in the next six months, compared to only 17% who expect it to decrease. This gives the sector an index score of +25 points, the most confident sector surveyed.

The leisure and entertainment sector is also very upbeat about the coming months with an index score of +22 points, and those who work in the travel industry achieve an index score of +12 points.

The next most optimistic workers are in the financial services industry, with 28% of them expecting an increase in business travel compared to 19% who expect a reduction, giving them an index score of +9 points.

The findings suggest that overall the growth in the business travel market is set to continue, supporting recent figures from the Guild of Travel Management Companies revealing a 4% growth in business travel in the three months to June 2011.

Leire Jimenez, MAPFRE ASSISTANCE’s Head of B2B Travel, said: “There is a noticeable difference between the confidence levels of business travellers in different sectors, which should give business travel agencies an indicator as to where they should focus their efforts in the coming months.

“The difference between the responses by sector demonstrates that we are still in very uncertain economic times and we expect there to be keen competition between business travel firms for companies in the most optimistic sectors. Business travel firms may try to drive extra revenue by offering a greater breadth of products such as emergency assistance and travel insurance, and they should try to ensure they hold on to their customers by partnering with companies they can trust to deliver quality and service wherever their customers go in the world.”