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A study carried out for SAP Concur, which provides solutions for expense and travel management for companies, shows that awareness of the sustainable choice is a decisive factor for the decision on business travel, and that more than one in four Danes is willing to opt out of business travel altogether due to the environmental impact or lack of opportunity to choose sustainable solutions.
Despite that, the study shows that 28 per cent respond that their company will not pay more for sustainability.
The environment and the focus on the CO2 footprint play an increasingly important role when decisions have to be made in business, and this also applies when planning business trips.
According to the latest survey carried out for SAP Concur, more than one in four Danes (28 per cent) respond that they are willing to opt out of the business trip due to the environmental impact or lack of opportunity to choose sustainable solutions:
“We find that both companies and employees increasingly demand innovative solutions when it comes to sustainability. Almost one in four business travelers see recommendations to reduce carbon emissions as an essential feature of their travel booking system, and over a third will use AI-based automation to find sustainable travel options. Our goal is to help deal with these complex challenges, and with the technologies we have, companies can more easily balance efficiency and responsibility, which makes it easier to make sustainable choices,” says Jesper Plesner, who is Nordic responsible at SAP Concur.
Companies will not pay more for sustainability
The survey, which is based on responses from 3,750 business travelers and 600 tour guides from around the world, also shows that a further 28 per cent of the Danes surveyed in the survey indicate that their company has cut costs for more sustainable travel options during the past 12 months.
At the same time, the study shows that it particularly puts pressure on tour operators because they are expected to offer more sustainable travel options without having a sufficient budget:
“Our study makes it clear that companies are faced with a difficult balancing act between cost-saving measures and their employees’ needs and reflected wishes. For many companies, this is a complex challenge, as tour operators have to balance several conflicting demands, including sustainability, travel flexibility and cost savings,” says Jesper Plesner.
According to the report, travel managers are in the middle of this conflict, where on the one hand they are expected to offer green travel alternatives and meet employees’ needs for flexibility, but at the same time work under tight budgets, which results in 85 per cent of the Danish business travelers have experienced that their companies have cut down on flexible travel allowances. 31 per cent report that their companies have stopped allowing employees to pay extra to choose more sustainable travel options.
About the survey
The 2024 SAP Concur Global Business Travelers Report includes findings from 3,750 global business travelers across 24 markets – including the US, Canada, England, Germany, France, Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Spain , Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Portugal, Switzerland and Austria – and 600 global travel managers across six markets Germany, Canada, Japan, Australia , New Zealand, England and the USA. The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of SAP Concur between April 5 and April 26, 2024. You can download the full report here and follow SAP Concur on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to keep you updated on the latest news from SAP Concur.
Source: it-kanalen.dk
