Global Warming Concerns Begin to Impact Business Travel

There are clear signs that business travel behavior is beginning to change in response to global warming concerns, a forthcoming study by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and KDS will reveal.

For the third consecutive year, ACTE and KDS, surveyed the opinions of an international group of business travelers and travel managers, and, for the first time, identified a real desire to reduce the frequency of travel and select “greener” options.

The ACTE-KDS survey sampled the opinions of over 250 business travelers (53 percent of the sample) and travel managers (47 percent) between November 2007 and January 2008.

The majority (40 percent) worked for businesses employing over 10,000 employees, and the largest geographic markets represented were the United Kingdom (29.5 percent), the United States (23.5 percent) and Continental Europe (22.9 percent).

Among the findings to be discussed will be details about the fact that 45 percent of respondents felt that guilt about global warming now directly impacts individuals’ decisions about business travel.

The significance of this is explained by the related finding that almost 70 percent of respondents now use an online travel booking tool, thereby potentially creating a far closer link between individually held concerns and actual travel bookings.

The traveler is now directly involved in the selection process and when given a choice may select a travel option according to its impact on the environment.