American Express Business Travel unveiled today its Global Business Traveller Survey of more than 1000 business travellers around the world, revealing that a large majority of business travellers expect to see an increase in business trips over the next year.  The survey also found that while a majority of business travellers are comfortable with their personal safety and security while travelling, they valued security assurances.  Survey results were previewed at the American Express Business Travel Global Media Forum in Shanghai, China, on April 14 and officially distributed in conjunction with the ACTE Global Conference in Vancouver, Canada, May 1-3, 2005.

“Business travellers worldwide clearly believe that their frequent travel will continue,” said Marcella Shinder, Global Head of Marketing at American Express Business Travel. “However, this anticipated increase in travel appears to bring with it an upswing in the value for safety and security assurances.  Solutions that help alleviate these travel concerns, such as, company traveller tracking, international travel specialist counsellors, business travel insurance programs and expanded support for international travel necessities such as visa and passport requirements, can play an important role in helping to maintain the smooth flow of business travel worldwide.”

Business Travellers Continue Flying

The American Express survey revealed that 86 percent of business travellers around the world expect to increase or maintain their number of business trips over the next year, led by nearly 69 percent of Chinese business travellers.  By comparison 42 percent of Mexicans, 41 percent of Americans, 34 percent of Japanese and 33 percent of Australian business travellers expecting increases in travel.

Traveller Well-Being - A Constant Concern

Security is still important, with 74 percent of global business travellers surveyed finding it important that their company know where they are at all times in case of emergency. In addition, with growth in international travel comes an increase in the need for visa/passport support and traveller insurance.  Forty-five percent of travellers said that they felt that online visa and passport support is very valuable.  Both Chinese (65%) and French (63%) travellers rated visa/passport support as a priority.

“As the world’s largest travel management company, which helps move more business travellers around the globe than any other organization, traveller safety and security is one of our biggest concerns,” Shinder added.  “By enabling companies to locate their travellers anywhere in the world at any time, offerings such as the American Express Global Security Suite can go a long way toward easing traveller worries while helping employers respond to the unexpected.”

Travellers are also finding personal travel insurance valuable.  Specifically, 65 percent of business travellers around the world identified baggage loss insurance as the most valuable type of business travel insurance, followed by trip delay (61%) and trip cancellation/interruption insurances (61%), emergency medical evacuation/repatriation (57%), baggage delay (55%), air flight coverage for accidental death/injuries (52%) and emergency medical and dental expenses (48%).  American Express offers solutions to address these business traveller safety concerns. Availability varies by market due to regulatory and other factors.

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