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BCD
Travel Industry Forecast Predicts a 1% Rise in
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Airfares,
and Hotel Rate Increases of 2-4%
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Atlanta,
GA – March 2018 / Newsmaker Alert / Airfare
prices are slowly climbing in markets with the strongest demand, according
to BCD Travel’s midyear update
to the 2018
Industry Forecast. Meanwhile, the outlook for global hotel rates in
2018 remains unchanged with a 2-4% increase predicted over last year.
BCD’s
airfare forecasts have increased in a number of markets compared to predictions
when the 2018 Industry Forecast was originally issued in September 2017.
As the economic outlook improves, strong global air travel demand and rising
oil prices are helping to push up fares. In response to supply constraint
and increasing demand, BCD raised its oil price assumption from US$50 per
barrel to US$60.
“Our
initial forecasts for 2018 remain largely on target. Intercontinental economy
airfares will increase slightly more than our original forecast as the
global economy continues to strengthen,” says Charuta Fadnis, BCD Travel’s
senior director of research and analytics.
The
forecast reviews airfares in seven major regions for regional and intercontinental
flights in business and economy classes, as well as projections for average
daily hotel rates and economic growth assumptions. Midyear adjustments
to the forecast with details by market are available in the full
update. Previously published by Advito, BCD’s consulting group, the
forecast is now being produced by BCD Travel’s Research & Intelligence
team.
The
BCD Travel 2018 Industry Forecast update also takes a closer look at some
emerging trends of interest to travel managers, including:
-
The impact
of surcharges resulting from airlines’ efforts to lower their distribution
costs
-
The benefits
of integrating travel and expense management, and the options for extending
this to other activities in an end-to-end solution.
Disrupting
Airline Distribution
Airlines
are eager to lower distribution costs and develop better ways of marketing
their offerings across their own sales channels. Some major European-based
airline groups, such as Lufthansa Group and two IAG airlines (British Airways
and Iberia), have started to levy surcharges for tickets bought through
non-direct channels. Air France-KLM will follow suit soon. This has led
to increased costs for customers buying tickets through third-party channels,
like global distribution systems (GDS). The report further explores the
implications and impact of this development.
Travel
and Expense: Go Further with an End-to-End Approach
Approximately
60% of companies surveyed by BCD Travel use an online booking tool (OBT)
and the same proportion have introduced an expense management system (EMS).
Surprisingly, less than a third of those companies have integrated the
two. Implementing an end-to-end system helps reduce the stress of business
travel, while improving travel program effectiveness. The update further
delves into options and advantages.
About
BCD Travel
BCD
Travel helps companies make the most of what they spend on travel.
For travelers, this means keeping them safe and productive, and equipping
them to make good choices on the road. For travel and procurement managers,
it means advising them on how to grow the value of their travel program.
In short, we help our clients travel smart and achieve more. We make this
happen in 108 countries with almost 13,000 creative, committed and experienced
people. And it’s how we maintain the industry’s most consistent client
retention rate (95% over the past 10 years), with 2016 sales of US$24.6
billion. For more information, visit www.bcdtravel.com.
About
BCD Group
BCD
Group is a market leader in the travel industry. The privately-owned
company was founded in 1975 by John Fentener van Vlissingen and consists
of BCD Travel (global corporate travel management), Travix (online travel:
CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel, BudgetAir, Flugladen and Vayama), Park ‘N Fly
(off-airport parking), Airtrade Holland (consolidation and fulfillment)
and joint venture Parkmobile International (mobile parking applications).
BCD Group employs over 14,000 people and operates in 108 countries with
total sales of US$26.4 billion, including US$10.4 billion partner sales.
For more information, visit www.bcdgroup.com.
Media
Contact:
BCD
Travel
Michael
Antrobus
678-441-1247 |