May and June are the months with the highest business travel spending
The period of most travel activity, and therefore of greatest expenditure for the corporate travel account, is the period from May to June, according to the latest benchmarking study of the Spanish market published annually by Diners Club Spain. The report notes an acceleration of the changes that have taken place in the last five years.
In 2017, the year to which the study refers, May and June represented the months with the highest business travel spending activity (with 10.11% and 10.12%, respectively), ahead of March (9.78%), October (9.64%) and November (9.37%). In general, there have been no major variations in the monthly distribution of spending with respect to previous years. The information base for this work, which has been published for six years, is Travel Account, Diners Club's payment tool.
Travel spending during 2017 was mostly devoted to the purchase of airline tickets (62.53%). However, for the fifth consecutive year, the disbursement on airlines through this centralized method shows a downward trend, with a decrease of 5.5 percentage points from 2012 to 2017.
The rest of services continues to grow, with special mention to the hotels, which increases its share by 4.53 percentage points. The lowest item was travel agency issuing fees.
Overall, the total turnover of the Top 10 airlines in billings has lost share, dropping last year from 83.39% in 2012 to 78.25%. This is mainly because ticket prices have decreased over the past five years, with the exception of Emirates and Qatar Airways, which have increased them.
According to the report, Iberia continues to top the airline ranking by usage, although its share of sales continues to decline, standing at 35.37% in 2017, down 9.88 percentage points from 2012. In contrast, Vueling continues to grow in importance, up 6.42 percentage points in five years; Air Europa (+3.75 percentage points) and Ryanair (+0.60 percentage points).
“Benchmarking the Spanish market
“Benchmarking the Spanish market” has also analyzed the evolution of the most demanded destinations for corporate travel. The ranking places Madrid and Barcelona in the top two positions, ahead of London, Bilbao and Paris. For the first time, the German city of Munich appears in the ranking, occupying the number 10 position.
Madrid is positioned at number 1 of the train destinations, as it is the nerve center of AVE travel and business in Spain. However, the city has seen a 3.87 percentage point decrease from 2012 to 2017.
As for hotels, 59.64% of bookings paid by companies with their Travel Account are for one night's accommodation, despite a 2.02 percentage point decrease from 2012 to 2017. The most significant increase is represented by two-night stays, up 1.06 percentage points, and five-night stays, up almost one percentage point.
The cities most in demand for overnight stays have also evolved downward, with Madrid the one that has lost the most share despite its first place, going from 19.08% in 2012 to 15.74% last year.
TRAVEL AGENCIES
The new edition of the Diners Club Spain report also includes data on transactions through travel agencies. Payments charged by issuance have decreased during the study period by 1.5 percentage points.
Also, the use of a single agency for booking business travel has been declining year after year, with a final difference of -5.9 percentage points, while the use of two agencies(+4.37pp) and even two agencies(+4.37pp) are growing.p.) and even three or more, which represent 5.13% of the company groups.