csr

Global Warming Concerns Begin to Impact Business Travel

mhanus — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:01:26 +0100

24/01/2008

Third annual ACTE - KDS survey to reveal behavioural changes in the industry

Paris – January 24, 2008 – There are clear signs that business travel behaviour 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, the European leader in on-demand travel & expense solutions, surveyed the opinions of an international group of business travellers and travel managers, and, for the first time, identified a real desire to reduce the frequency of travel and select ‘greener’ options. The full details of the wide-ranging study will be announced at next month’s London Business Travel Show.

The ACTE – KDS survey sampled the opinions of over 250 business travellers (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).

The full research findings will be announced at a joint ACTE – KDS press conference to be held on February 5, 2008 at 1.30pm in Conference Room 1 at Earl’s Court.

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 traveller 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.

“This joint survey is especially significant as it indicates a major behavioral change in the way business travelers now link carbon reduction with the travel process,” Said Susan Gurley, Executive Director of ACTE. “It is inevitable that travelers, and their companies, will incorporate a growing sense of environmental awareness into traveling smarter, more productively, and with less impact on the environment. Our industry will soon be looking at bold new trends.”

The survey will also reveal that in the past 12 months businesses have done more to convert good environmental intentions into firm actions. When compared with last year’s ACTE – KDS survey, the new study will show that the proportion of companies advocating a reduction in travel for environmental reasons has leapt from under a quarter to over one third. This rise in corporate social responsibility has also seen a marked increase in the proportion of travel departments reporting on carbon emissions to senior management.

"Individual travellers seem to be leading the way when it comes to greener behaviour", says Stanislas Berteloot, marketing director of KDS. "While businesses are taking more action to improve their environmental conduct, this survey will show that most of their employees believe they should be doing even more. With the increasing adoption of self-booking travel systems, the quickest route to improved corporate social responsibility seems to be through individuals’ actions.”

For further information
Stanislas Berteloot KDS +33 (1) 46 29 33 80 sberteloot@kds.com
Marc Cornelius 80:20 PR +44 20 7924 7576 marc@8020pr.com

About KDS
KDS on-demand travel & expense offers a completely integrated solution for travel and expense management, addressing essential needs ranging from travel policy definition and enforcement, to online travel self-booking, to automated travel expense processing and beyond. Every critical procedure can be completed through the KDS ASP offering, resulting in greater efficiencies and associated financial benefits. In addition, KDS offers the most extensive back-end connectivity to airline, car, rail and hotel providers in the industry, ensuring optimized pricing and up-to-the-minute inventory control. For more information, visit www.kds.com.

About ACTE
The Association of Corporate Travel Executive (ACTE) is a non-profit association established to provide executive-level global education and peer-to-peer networking opportunities. Membership spans all of business travel, from corporate buyers to agencies to suppliers, and accords all sectors equal membership. ACTE is represented in over 50 countries.

The Business Travel Industry is Looking at "Travel Guilt"

mhanus — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:16:01 +0100

18/12/2007

For the third year the industry will measure progress made to tackle travel impact on greenhouse gas emission.

Paris – December 18, 2007 – KDS, the European leader in on-demand travel and expense solutions and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives are issuing a survey to gauge how corporations and travellers are taking into account environmental issues in their business travel management.

In this year's edition of their third survey, ACTE and KDS are asking industry members about a rising feeling among environmental conscious travellers: "the travel guilt".

The survey will tell if business travellers are increasingly ashamed of contributing to greenhouse gas emission and if travel policies are progressively promoting "green" travel suppliers.

Although many firms are actively putting together a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, most of their actions are targeting their production and core service area. Too often, corporations omit to include travel in their CSR plan. However, airlines are said to produce 3 percent of the total emission of greenhouse gas and that is not going to get better anytime soon if traffic trends prove to be correct. The ACTE – KDS survey will reveal whether things have changed in 2007.

The new study is also looking at how respondents feel about their employee's social corporate responsibility's program. Previous studies exposed the gap between public announcements of goodwill and concrete actions. They also made clear how difficult it was for travel buyers to find any "green" travel service suppliers.

A year ago the ACTE – KDS study showed that although most respondents said they were "working on it" nothing was actually in place to track and reduce travel related carbon emissions. Will things have moved forward a year later?

Individual travellers and travel managers are warmly invited to contribute to the study by answering 21 short questions online.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1FrXA9GQTEOGtEpOAlhstg_3d_3d

Results will be announced during the London Business Travel show on February 5 to 7, 2008.

Our Planet: We Are Concerned!

vgalibert@kds.com — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:44:57 +0100

08/12/2006

The Survey "Impact of Climate Changes on Business Travel" is a collaborative work of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) the Belgium Association of Travel Managers (BATM) and KDS.

Your involvement will make a difference - please take a few minutes to answer our 17 questions.

Contribute to raising awareness of Social Corporate Responsibility in the travel industry by distributing this survey within your company and to industry colleagues.

The survey has been designed by Industry Associations and KDS to analyze issues concerning carbon emissions and the latest travel trends. Please complete it now to share your views and play a role.

The study covers the following key areas:
Environmentally friendly travel alternatives - impact on behavior Measurement efforts for carbon emissions - comparison of the impact of different travel activities
Latest business travel trends (as compared to last year's survey) The results will be presented at the Business Travel Show at London's Earls Court on February 14th 2007 at 11:30am. The study will be available upon request.
To participate in the survey, please copy this link into your browser.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=284842982915

About ACTE
The Association of Corporate Travel Executive (ACTE) is a non-profit association established to provide executive-level global education and peer-to-peer networking opportunities. Membership spans all of business travel, from corporate buyers to agencies to suppliers, and accords all sectors equal membership. ACTE is represented in 49 countries.
Contact: mlenfant@acte.org About BATM
BATM is a non-profit making organization representing the interests of the Corporate Travel Management within the Belgian travel industry, promoting in industry best practice, education and providing forums for networking and knowledge sharing.
Contact: nora.buysschaert@batm.be

KDS and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) Survey Impact of Climate Changes on Business Travel

mhanus — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:29:42 +0100

01/12/2006

Paris – London -- 05 December, 2006 - KDS, European leader in on demand travel and expense, and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) announced today the launch of a joint survey targeting business travelers.

The survey will gauge views on carbon emissions and what role business travelers could play in addressing this issue. With a number of leading corporations reviewing travel programmes from a “green” perspective, the joint KDS ACTE survey will identify business travelers’ views on this issue and how their travel choices can make an impact.

The survey will look to cover the following key areas:

Environmentally friendly travel alternatives – impact on behavior
Measurement efforts for carbon emissions – comparison of the impact of different travel activities.

In addition, the survey will gauge the views on the latest business travel trends and will be presented at the London Business Travel Show at Earls Court February 13th, 14th and 15th, 2007.

To participate in the KDS/ACTE survey, please click here. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=284842982915

About KDS
KDS on demand travel & expense offers a completely integrated solution for travel and expense management, addressing essential needs ranging from travel policy definition and enforcement, to online travel self-booking, to automated travel expense processing and beyond. Every critical procedure can be completed through the KDS ASP offering, resulting in greater efficiencies and associated financial benefits. In addition, KDS offers the most extensive back-end connectivity to airline, car, rail and hotel providers in the industry, ensuring optimized pricing and up-to-the-minute inventory control. For more information, visit www.kds.com.