First lat am business travel barometer by concomitance

LATIN AMERICAN BUSINESS TRAVEL BAROMETER 1st edition – May 2014

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1st editionof the

Latin American

Business travel barometer

May 2014

mailto:[email protected]



Content

Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Methodology of the barometer ................................................................................................................................................ 4

Part 1: Overview of the Business Travel Market .................................................................................................................... 5

Quickly growing business travel market in Latin America ............................................................................................................................................. 5

Business travel between 0.7% and 1.4% of GDP ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

Dynamic Market due to higher activities ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6

A strongly domestic market ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Breakdown of travel budget: importance of Air + Hotel ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Part 2: Three main priorities for Latin American organizations ........................................................................................... 8

Introduction to the three main priorities ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Priority #1 = Cost Control .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Travel policy ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Travellers autonomy ..........................................................................................................................................................................................11 Budget optimization needs and levers ..............................................................................................................................................................11 Travel agency support in optimization ..............................................................................................................................................................13

Priority #2 = Complete View of Expense .....................................................................................................................................................................14 Travel agency usage ..........................................................................................................................................................................................14 Booking practices ..............................................................................................................................................................................................14 Booking solutions ..............................................................................................................................................................................................15 Payment methods .............................................................................................................................................................................................16 Travel management procedures .......................................................................................................................................................................16 Expense management solutions........................................................................................................................................................................17

Priority #3 = Security of travellers ...............................................................................................................................................................................18

Synthesis: several levers for organizations to reach their priorities ...........................................................................................................................19

Perspectives for 2014 ............................................................................................................................................................. 20




Executive summary The business travel market in Latin America is one of the quickest growing in the world. It made up USD 60 billion in 2013 and has had an average

growth rate of 7.2% since 2000.

The market can be described both cautious and dynamic. The market is cautious because a majority of firms do not want to adjust their travel

budget, but it is also dynamic, because when they do adjust it, firms in Latin America tend to adjust it by a very large margin.

This has led to an average increase in the size of travel budgets of 4.2% in 2014. It is important to note that this in general is not due to inflation,

but rather to actual increases in operating activities. This market is also strongly domestic, with the largest part (75%) of increases resulting

from a developing activity within each country respectively.

Air and hotel expenses account for almost ¾ of an organization’s budget, which is far above their weight in Europe (60%).

Priority #1 = Cost control

71% of interviewed organizations will be taking measures to enforce their cost control over the next 3 years.

Several factors explain this level of priority: o Only 50% of firms have a travel policy in place, and if it is in place, it is not widely implemented; o Business travellers in Latin America enjoy a high level of autonomy, with 41% having great to complete autonomy when travelling.

Consequently 82% of organizations declare that they could optimize their budget, and even to a large extent for 24%.

As in Europe, the preferred lever for cost control is best buy.

Priority #2 = Getting a complete view of expenses

50% of organizations are willing to enhance their view over their expenses. This priority is higher than in Europe (ranked #3). o Many organizations use several local travel agencies, rather than 1 agency covering all their needs. o Direct booking to supplier is high, 50% of firms using it either as their main booking practice or in combination with a travel agency. o Online corporate booking tools (OBTs), although quite widely used (44%), are often used for a limited share of bookings. As opposed

to Europe, mobile phones are widely used in the booking phase of the travel cycle. o When in place, standardized procedures tend to be manual.

Priority #3 = Increase travellers security & safety

Most organizations have now taken security measures, notably during the trip and by subscribing travel insurances.

An axis of improvement lies into the still low share of them providing pre-trip training & information to their travellers.

Prospects for 2014 are good, with an increase in budgets forecast to reach +5.8%, and a better situation especially in Brazil and Chile.




Methodology of the barometer

480 organizations have been interviewed for the first edition of the Latin

American business travel barometer, either face-to-face or by

telephone. All respondents are travel managers for their company.

Interviewed organizations are from all sectors of the economy with

various sizes of travel budget – from less than USD 50 000 to more

than USD 10 million. The median budget was USD 250 000.

Seeing as this is the first edition of the barometer, at the moment, there

are no comparable statistics for previous years. Thus, comparisons are

made with the current and historical situations in other markets,

especially Europe and China, but also with the respondents’ own

answers regarding their past travel habits and their predictions for

future ones.

Methodology of the LatAm Business Travel barometer

► 480 organizations have been interviewed

All interviews by phone or face-to-face

► Respondents are travel managers

► All sizes of business travel budget

From < USD 50K to > USD 10M

Median budget = USD 250K

► All sectors of the economy

Mexico80 interviews

Brazil240 interviews

Chile80 interviews

Argentina80 interviews

May 2014Concomitance 2




Part 1: Overview of the Business Travel Market

Quickly growing business travel market in Latin America

The business travel market in Latin America looks to be promising.

With USD 60 billion it currently represents roughly 5% of the world’s

USD 1145 billion, with an average positive trend of +7.2% between

2000 and 2012 (vs +4.5% globally). In comparison, during the same

time the European market grew only by an average of 3.7%.

Nevertheless, the countries of the former Eastern Bloc remain the

fastest growing market at 10.3% annually.

Business travel between 0.7% and 1.4% of GDP

While the business travel budgets vary greatly in size within Latin

America – from less than USD 3 billion in Chile and Peru to

approximately USD 30 billion in Brazil – in general, the business travel

budget is between 0.7% and 1.4% of GDP. All of the six major

countries in the region have a comparable ratio.

Interestingly this ratio can also be observed in other regions around the

world, such as in Europe.

Latin America among top growing regions

Yearly growth

2000-2012

+4,5% = World average

+1,5%

+7,5%

<

>

+1,1%/ year

+7,2%/ year

+7,5%/ year

+7,1%/ year

+10,3%/ year+3,7%

/ year

Source: GBTA, WTTC

April 24th, 2014Concomitance 4

Total business

travel market

USD 1145 billion

Total Latin America

USD 60 billion

Business travel always represents between 0,7 and 1,4% of

the country’s GDP

► All major 6 countries in the region have a comparable ratio between their Business travel

market and their GDP: between 0,8% and 1,4%

0,0%

0,5%

1,0%

1,5%

2,0%

1 30

Business travel

amount (USD billions)

Business travel / GDP

ratio

BrazilPeru

ArgentinaChile

Venezuela

Colombia

Mexico

Business travel

= 0,7% to 1,4%

of GDP

52 3 4 6 7 8 9 10


Total Latin America

USD 60 billion




Dynamic Market due to higher activities

57% of travel budgets within respondents have remained stable, 32%

of budgets have increased, and 11% have decreased.

• When budgets increased, it was by 24% in average;

• When they decreased, it was by 31% in average.

This leads to two conclusions. On the one hand, the fact that 57% of

organizations stabilized their budgets shows that the market is rather

cautious. This trend is also observed in Europe; which also shows that

organizations now tend to better control their costs, which allows them

to keep developing their activity while stabilizing their travel budget.

On the other hand, the market is also very dynamic, because when

firms do change their budget, the percentage of change is very high.

For example, firms who decided to increase their travel budgets did so

by an average of 10% more than in Europe. Similarly, firms who

decreased their budgets decreased them by an average of 10% more

in Latin America than in Europe.

For Latin America, this has led to an average budget increase of 4.2%

in the past year – a positive development when compared to Europe

with an increase of 0.5% in the same time period.

It is also important to note that, with the exception of Argentina, most

organizations have increased their budgets for higher activity volumes

rather than for inflation. This is a positive trend given the high reported

rate increase of +5% per diem in main business areas, according to

the Business Travel News index.

Barometer results: a dynamic and positively oriented

market, and also cautious

More than half travel budgets are stable

3257114

countries

Decreased Remained stable Increased

+24%in average

-31%in average

+ 4.2%Average budget increase

in the last 12 months

+ 5.6%

+ 7.5%

+ 2.4%

+ 3.3%


Business travel budget evolution% of organizations

This positive trend results from the activity, not from the

inflation

► Budgets mostly increase for trip volume increase: the market shows a strong dynamism

74

26

Main reason for budget increase% of organizations

Higher volume of travel

Higher travel cost

79

21

90

10

75

25 33

67

4

countries





A strongly domestic market

For now and the near future, the business travel market in Latin

America remains largely domestic, with 75% of companies listing

domestic development as the main reason for increasing budgets. This

rate is similar in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. While this is

expected for a large country like Brazil, it is more surprising for the

comparably smaller countries.

This rate is similar to the rate in China, but much less than in Europe

(35%), where organizations much more rely on their activity in the rest

of the continent, and moreover abroad (especially Asia). This can be

explained by the fact that, in Europe, markets are smaller in average

and the economic situation requires closer cooperation.

Breakdown of travel budget: importance of Air + Hotel

In Latin America, the proportion of business travel expenses spent on

air and hotel are very high. 74% of the surveyed organizations’ budgets

were used for these two categories, in comparison to 61% in Europe

and 46% in China. These high percentage rates can partially explained

by the absence of rail in these countries.

The market is strongly domestic

► When budgets increase, it is mainly for domestic development reasons

Domestic development

75%of budget increase reasons

Continental development


Global development



43

31

60

13

8

Trip purpose breakdown% of budgets

Air + Hotel = 75% of travel budgets

Car

rental

Food &

Beverage

Other

Air + hotel =

74% of budgets

Rail

61%

47

31

60

1032,8

38

31

50

14

8 3,7

37

30

60

18

71,7

38

29

90

15

8 1

67% 69%

78% 67%





Part 2: Three main priorities for Latin American organizations

Introduction to the three main priorities

As it is in Europe and China, cost control is unsurprisingly the number

one priority for Latin American firms. 71% of surveyed organizations

are willing to take measures in order to improve their capacity in cost

control within the next 3 years.

Getting a complete view of expenses seems to be a growing priority. It

is number two in Latin America, and although no evolution can be

drawn in this 1st edition of the barometer, a strong positive trend has

been observed in Europe and China for a few years now. It has

reached #3 priority in Europe, and #4 in China. The desire to be fully

able to grasp travel expenses is a growing tendency around the world

and will surely become a major topic in the coming years.

Organizations have 3 main priorities

► These top priorities are similar in Europe

► The “complete view of expense” is a recent & growing priority


71%Get a better

COST CONTROL

Increase TRAVELLERS SECURITY

& SAFETY

Get a

COMPLETE VIEW OF EXPENSE 50%

43%

% of organizations




Priority #1 = Cost Control

Travel policy

Only one in every two Latin American firms interviewed has a travel

policy in place. This is a relatively low figure, compared to 64% in

Europe. Moreover, if a travel policy is in place, it is not widely applied,

with only 41% of organizations reaching 70% compliance or more. This

figure is 57% in Europe.

Not applying these travel policies can have a direct effect on costs, but

also on other priorities, such as a complete view of expenses or

travelers’ safety. The importance of travel policies will also likely be a

trend in the coming years.

Interestingly, while travel policies are not fully enforced, they are

composed with a high level of directives, with seven directives being

shared by at least 50% of organizations. This is a rate comparable to

Europe’s situation. When in place, travel policies are ready to be

applied to the whole traveling process.

Implementing a travel policy is a standard yet to come, and

compliance must be optimized

Travel policies are in place in ½ organizations Their compliance is often limited

Travel policy in place% of organizations

50%of organizations have

a travel policy in place

50%of organizations don’t

have a travel policy in

place

Travel policy level of compliance

41%of organizations

19%of organizations

22%of organizations

18%of organizations

= 64%

57%


>70%of expenses

50-70%of expenses

20-50%of expenses

<20%of expenses




Among the seven main directives in travel policies:

4 are related to direct costs, with hotel directives being the most

prevalent at 80% of companies, followed by air directives at 76%.

This trend is also observed in Europe: hotel directives are now

slightly more present in travel policies than air directives, although

hotel expenses weigh an average twice less than air expenses.

This can be explained by 2 main facts: first, hotel expenses are

more difficult to control, with many independent suppliers not fully

present in central booking tools and a significant part of the

expenses being made on-trip while in the hotel; second, some

studies reveal that out-of-policy hotel bookings can have a strong

impact on the budget, while out-of-policy air bookings tend to occur

the same expenses – or even a little saving (see GBTA study “Out-

of-Policy Business Travelers and Their Impact on the Bottom

Line”, August 2013)

2 directives are related to process or indirect costs, 82% of firms

have a policy requiring upstream validation, and 79% have a

downstream validation process. Interestingly, directives on

process and indirect costs, although more complex to implement

and with longer return-on-expense, are now widely shared by

organizations.

Finally, 1 directive is linked with the security of employees, with

52% of respondents having implemented such measures in their

policy.

Yet, travel policies contain a lot of directives, to manage

both direct and indirect costs

► 7 directives are shared by at least 50% of travel policies. This is a similar rate to Europe

(9 directives)

Concomitance 14 May 2014

Direct costs

Process /

indirect costs

Corporate

responsibility

80

76

54

50

45

41

38

20

82

79

49

47

52

20

Hotel directives

Air travel directives

Car rental and ground service directives

Meetings & Events (MICE) directives

Preferred suppliers

Travel alternatives (audio, video conf)

Ancillary service directives

Rail directives

Upstream validation process

Downstream validation of expenses

Payment method directives

Travel agency directives

Security of employees

Environmental & sustainable development

Travel policy components% of organizations 50% of organizations




Travellers autonomy

In general, organizations in Latin America award a high level of

autonomy to their travelers. In 41% of cases, travelers have either great

or even total autonomy for their bookings and expenses, which can

greatly impact the total cost of the trip and the full view of expenses.

This situation has of course an impact on the above described low

compliance of the travel policies.

This rate is lower in Europe, but even higher in China with the same

consequences on travel policy compliance.

Budget optimization needs and levers

Organizations are already conscious of pre-described areas of

improvement, with 82% saying that their travel budget could be

optimized, compared to 64% in Europe. Out of these 82%, 24% say

that their budget could even be optimized to a “large extent.”

Indeed, travelers have a great level of autonomy for their

expenses

Level of autonomy

Complete

Great

Partial

None

20%of organizations

21%of organizations

46%of organizations

13%of organizations

41% of organizations

give full of great

autonomy to their

travelers

29%

► An important share of

companies award a high level

of autonomy to their travelers.

► This can have an impact on

the total cost of trip, and on

the full view of expenses.

► The level of autonomy is

generally lower in other

regions.


Consequently organizations consider that their budgets

could be largely optimized

► More than 80% of interviewed organizations consider that their expenses could be

optimized.

► They are 25% to consider that this could be done to a large extent.

18

58

24

Could expenses be optimized?% of organizations

No, or to a very smallextent

Yes, to some extent

Yes, to a large extent82%

of budgets could be

optimized

Only 18% of organizations

already have an optimized budget

64%

19

55

2713

64

24

26

52

22 14

69

17





Like in other regions, best buy is their preferred optimization lever. As

previously mentioned, seeing that this is the first edition, it is hard to

find a trend. However, in Europe the trend is very strong: this lever was

#2 last year, #6 in 2011, and not even in the top ten in 2010. This

growth was notably made possible by the emergence of tools and

solutions within organizations, making price comparison easier.

Emergence of best-buy is also made possible by the rise of low-cost

carriers in the business travel, where they now weigh an average 37%

of air budgets through the 4 studied countries. The situation is however

heterogeneous, with a very heavy weight in Brazil (49% of air budgets,

the market being shared between Gol and Latam), and a more lower,

but significant weight in other countries (between 21% and 28%).

Interestingly the relationship with suppliers has evolved: renegotiating

the partnership is now used more often (lever #8) than maximizing the

use of existing partnerships (lever #15). This trend has been observed

in Europe too, where the earlier is lever #6. Many organizations,

especially SMEs, consider a negotiated rate a guarantee against

higher rates, rather than an opportunity of savings.

Unsurprisingly optimization efforts are likely to affect air and hotel

expenses, as the main cost items; but F&B appears just behind, this

category being much more difficult to control despite a lower weight in

the budgets.

All categories of expense are concerned by optimization

► Air and Hotel expenses have the highest potential for optimization, before non-bookable

expenses

81

69

33

30

6

51

35

20

Expense categories which should be more tightly managed% of organizations

Air

Hotel

Car rental

Food & beverage

Ancillary services

Rail

Road expenses

Bookable expenses

Non-bookable, or partially

bookable expenses

Meetings & Events


Best buy is their preferred optimization lever

► Best buy is today’s most used optimization lever.

► Most optimization levers act on direct costs.

Best buy

Pre-trip TCO* assessment

Advanced booking

Online booking

Unused ticket follow-up

Pre trip approval procedures

Travel policy compliance

Renegotiation of supplier agreements

Post trip approval procedures

Central payment means

*TCO = Total Cost of Ownership

Top 10 budget optimization levers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

4

5

3

7

13

6

10

13





Travel agency support in optimization

Surprisingly, travel agencies are not often requested to provide support

for budget optimization. Hardly 1/3 of organizations using a travel

agency appeal to its expertise for this purpose; and this share drops

below 25% when it comes to set up optimization levers or measure

their efficiency.

There is definitely an area for improvement here, which partly lies into

a higher consolidation of travel agency usage (agencies are currently

mostly local and partly cover a client’s need, see after).

Travel agency support is not often requested

► When a travel agency is in place, its support is not often requested for budget

optimization

36

Defining optimization levers% of organizations

25 23

Measuring efficiency of optimization levers

% of organizations

Do organizations use their travel agency for optimization levers?Base 100 = organization with at least 1 travel agency


Setting up optimization levers% of organizations




Priority #2 = Complete View of Expense

Travel agency usage

75% of organizations use a travel agency, a rate which is comparable

to Europe at 80%. However, there is a significant difference for the type

of agencies used. In Latin America, they tend to be mainly local (45%

of organizations) while TMCs have little penetrated the market yet

(18% of organizations). In Europe the situation is almost the opposite,

with TMCs in place in 57% of organizations and local agencies only in

31% of them.

Consequently 33% of organizations use several travel agencies, in

comparison with 19% in Europe. This results in a lower capacity of

getting a full view over expenses.

Booking practices

Regardless of whether organizations use a travel agency or not, direct

supplier booking is very high. More than 50% of organizations use it as

their main booking practice or equally combined with travel agency

booking. This also has an impact on their view of expenses.

Organizations use several travel agencies, and these

agencies are mostly local

¾ organizations are using a travel agency

Have a travel agency75

Don't use a travel agency25

At least 1 travel agency in place% of organizations

1 agency41

2 agencies24

3 agencies9


33%

They often use

several agencies

TMC18

Pure online agency10

Local agency45

Other2

They often use a

local agency as

their main agency

Organizations have several booking practices

► Direct booking to supplier is still strongly used by organizations (true assessment

whether they have a travel agency or not).


Direct supplier36

Travel agency45

Balanced combination18

Booking channel used% of organizations

Direct supplier43

Travel agency35


Direct supplier46

Travel agency36





Booking solutions

Online corporate booking tools are used by 44% of organizations,

either through a travel agency portal or as an integrated solution. This

rate is comparable with the rate in Europe at 50%.

However, when OBTs are in place, they are not fully used with only

41% of organizations managing at least ¾ of their bookings through

the system. This ratio is especially surprising when considering that

such a large part of expenses is made up of air and hotel costs.

One reason for the low usage of OBT could be because, as a corporate

practice, mobile phones are highly used in the booking phase (booking,

payment, booking modification). This is an important conclusion of this

barometer, as, in comparison, European organizations mainly use

mobile phones for the on-trip phase, but not yet for the booking phase.

This situation is likely to continue to grow, as this phase of the trip cycle

is also the one where respondents want to increase the mobile usage

the most.

This also once again shows the high level of autonomy awarded to

travelers.

Mobile can be considered an alternative to OBT

14

8

48

72

62

50

22

3034

15

25

37

68

58

4954

Mobile functionalities commonly used% of organizations

Europe

Latin America


Bookings to providers

PaymentBooking

modificationsCheck-in

Alerts from providers

Security alertsConcierge services

Reporting et expense

management

Mobile is considered a real

alternative to booking methods,

including OBT





Payment methods

Currently, organizations in Latin America use several payment

methods for their business travel expenses. However, there is not a

single means of payment that is being used by 50% or more of

organizations yet, meaning that there is not yet a clearly defined

standard for a payment method on the Latin American market.

On average, organizations use two different methods each, with

manual and non-centralized methods still controlling a significant

market share. Centralized payment methods have not yet convinced a

majority of organizations. This is similar to the profile that currently

exists in Europe, and it is likely to be a major challenge for expense

consolidation in the future.

Travel management procedures

Having standardized procedures in place is an important driver for

expense management. A majority of Latin American organizations do

have such procedures in the pre-trip phase, such as the entry and

approval of travel requests or online booking. However, this is much

less the case in the post-trip phase, with only 38% of organizations

having a standard procedure for the entry and approval of expense

claims and 36% having a procedure for the integration into the

accounting system. When standardized procedures are not in place,

managing expenses remains an ad-hoc process with disadvantages

occurred in the full view of expenses.

Organizations use several means of payment, none of

them have become a standard yet

► No payment method exceeds 40% of organizations: a standard is still to define on the

market.

► In average organizations use 2 different methods each.

► “Manual” and non-centralized methods still hold a significant part of the market.

► This profile is similar to Europe and represents a major challenge for expense

consolidation.

40

36

33

32

23

Corporate card - company account

Cash advances

Travel agency invoicing

Reimbursement on personal credit card

Corporate card - traveler account

Top 5 payment methods used by organizations% of organizations

50%

Centralized

Not centralized


Standardized procedures are not in place in all the post-

trip phase

62

54

38

59

36

Presence of standardized procedures% of organizations


Entry and approval of travel requests

Onlinebooking

Entry and approval of expenses claims

Reimbursement of expenses

Integration in the accounting system

Pre-trip Post-trip





Moreover, 40% of the organizations that do have these procedures in

place have fully manual business travel management practices. This is

a higher rate than in Europe, where only 28% of companies have

manual practices.

Interestingly enough, at 25% the rate for fully automated booking

processes are also higher than in Europe, where the rate is currently

at 13%. This means that in this emerging market, a significant number

of firms have directly jumped to end-to-end solutions.

Expense management solutions

Unsurprisingly, the high level of manual procedures in the travel

expense management partly results from a still low adoption of

expense management solutions. To be noted, this low rate is

comparable with Europe, where these solutions are still to convince a

majority of organizations, especially in the SME segment.

However, most organizations are fully aware of the benefits of using

both an Online corporate booking tool and an Expense management

solution: ¾ of those using an EMS are also using an OBT.

And when in place, these procedures are often manual

► 40% of organizations have fully manual business travel management procedures.

► Full automation is in place in 1 organization in 4.


Fully manual39

Partly manual36

with disparate systems

13

with 1 unique solution

12

Level of automation of procedures% of organizations

Fully automated

45

42

40

28

35

31

39

33

4

16

13

20

16

10

9

20

EMS equipment is relatively low, but often comes

together with an OBT

► OBT drives the adoption of EMS.

► When they have an Expense management solution (EMS) in place, 71% of organizations

also have an OBT.

EMS only

EMS + OBT

Using an EMS33%

Expense Management Solution adoption rate% of organizations

74%

26%


4

countries




Priority #3 = Security of travellers

Traveler’s security and safety is ranked #3 priority in Latin America,

which joins a global trend already observed in other regions such as

Europe, where this concern is now priority #2. Despite mostly domestic

trip needs, Latin American organizations already have a high duty of

care, both legal (especially for those travelling to Europe, where travel

insurance in mandatory), and moral (internationally, but even

domestically with higher security risks than in other regions).

These 2 aspects of the duty of care are likely to grow in the future, as

international standards observed in the US, in Europe, or in some parts

of ASPAC, are getting higher.

Organizations have taken several measures to ensure security to their

travelers. More than half of them are now able to know at any time

where travelers are. A similar share of respondents are now

subscribing insurance for their trips.

But surprisingly, a much lower part of them have taken upstream

measures to provide training or information to their employees. The

same assessment can be made in Europe.

To answer this central issue, organizations have taken

security measures

► Subscribing a travel insurance / assistance is among top measures (also taking into account it is

mandatory for trips to Europe)

► Upstream training of employees is developing, although only in 27% of organizations so far.

15

27

53

64

53

31

Measures taken to ensure travelers security% of organizations


Nothingin place

Upstream trainingof employees

Travel insurance subscription

Ability to contacttravelers any time

Ability to knowwhere travelers are

Ability to repatriatetravelers

Pre-trip On-trip




Synthesis: several levers for organizations to reach their priorities

Analyzing the gap between organizations’ priorities (and therefore

ambitions) and their actual achievements in terms of solution

acquisition, practices, procedures, etc. allows to draw a list of

challenges for the next years to come.

As priority #1 by far, cost control should focus the attention.

Organizations’ main challenge lies in the better management of

expenses occurred by their travelers in a high level of autonomy. This

could be achieved by driving a better compliance of their policy – when

a policy is in place – or implementing a policy. Given the importance of

mobile solutions and direct booking, a better compliance could be

reached by adapting corporate solutions to these booking methods.

Getting a full view of expenses is priority #2 and several drivers can be

considered in order to reach it. Most of them are related to a better

adoption or usage of tools: Online corporate booking tools (to manage

a higher share of bookings), payment tools (to adopt central payment

solutions), and in a general way, getting procedures to become more

automated.

To enhance their ability to secure their travelers, organizations should

leverage the already high usage of mobile, and complete it by training

employees prior to their trips.

Synthesis

► To reach their 3 main objectives, Latin American organizations still have a few challenges

ahead

Priorities Challenges to reach objective

#1 = Cost control

Implement a travel policy (50% of organizations)

Drive compliance by framing travelers autonomy

Leverage travel agency support in optimization efforts

#2 = Full view of

expenses

Rationalize booking practices

Maximize usage of OBT, when in place

Enlarge adoption of central payment tools

Standardize & automate procedures in the post-trip phase

#3 = Traveler

security

Develop upstream training of employees

Optimize mobile usage in the on-trip phase





Perspectives for 2014

At the moment, the market is still cautious. In total, 56% of

organizations will stabilize their budgets in 2014. However, in total, still

more organizations are looking to increase their travel budget, leading

to an average budget increase of 5.8% over the next 12 months.

The situation is improving vs. 2013 in all countries, but especially in

Brazil and Chile.

Perspectives

► The market is still cautious: more than half organizations stabilize their budget

► But less organizations will decrease it

+ 5,8%Average budget increase

in the next 12 months

+ 7.9%

+ 5.5%

+ 4.1%

+ 5.6%

365674

countries

34

45

35

38

58

50

62

52

8

5

4

7

Business travel budget evolution% of organizations

Will decrease Will remain stable Will increase





About the Latin American business travel barometer

The 2014 barometer was prepared by Concomitance on the basis of a face-to-face and telephone survey conducted from February 17th and April

2nd, 2014, among persons in charge of travel budgets ranging from less than USD 50,000 to over USD 10 million (Travel Managers, Finance

Directors, Purchasing Directors) in 480 Latin American companies based in 4 countries: Brazil (240 interviews), Argentina, Chile, Mexico (80

interview each).

About Concomitance

Concomitance is a service company specialized since 2001 in marketing, commercial, sales and client relations research, consultancy and

performance development. Concomitance has teams specialized in several activity sectors such as telecommunications, travel and business travel,

banking, distribution, etc.

Since its establishment, Concomitance has stood out in terms of its capacity to transpose commercial and marketing issues into action plans which

are immediately effective and comprehensible to all players. This capacity is a direct result of Concomitance's DNA: the prior business experience

of our consultants allows us to formulate recommendations and share them with our clients in line with the maturity of their organization.


First lat am business travel barometer by concomitance

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