Pascal Struyve
President BATM
Belgian Association of Travel Managers

Obviously in the world of managed business travel a lot is and has changed recently due to the crisis. We clearly see a lot of opportunity for our members as there has never been more attention to managing the total cost of travel than today. Therefore it is important that - in general - we look at the crisis in a very positive way and be proactive within our companies to optimize our travel programs – transient and meetings - where needed and deliver the highest possible value to the overall business objectives.

Demand management is becoming very important. Do you really have to travel or can the trip be replaced with another form of meeting. (Net meeting – videoconferencing – audio conferencing – etc.). For meetings the same approach is happening especially to internal meetings: meetings/incentives with customers are scaled down but often still happen as it is sales driven.     

For sure budgets are reducing – new policies are being put in place where appropriate.
From the news we have heard, there are a lot of companies reducing staff and this is certainly no different within our membership base.

What is 2010 going to bring? No one has a crystal ball so this is a difficult question – however when the crisis is over this will not automatically mean that we will go back to the levels that existed before. Due to the length of the crisis we are creating new benchmarks and new standards of behaviour. There will certainly be increased activity but not to the levels of before the crisis.
As a corporate buyer or organizer always starts from the idea that the crisis is creating opportunities to demonstrate our value, we should all capitalize on this!