Sustainable travel 'will become more important as recession ends'

Date: 14/12/2009

Sustainability is likely to become an increasingly important issue to businesses when planning travel arrangements, it has been suggested.

Gill Upton, editor of the Business Travel Magazine, suggested that environmental issues were sidelined during the recession for those planning to fly or use other transport methods during the recession.

Cost was a more key consideration, she noted.

"It is very difficult to equate cost versus being sustainable because often you'll find that the sustainable option is more expensive," Ms Upton explained. "In the middle of the recession, that is a really tough call for a corporate buyer."

Her comments follow the release of a survey of 1,400 business travel managers, which found 48 per cent of those polled admitted the recession had forced them to put environmental considerations on the backburner when making travel arrangements.

The study by the Business Travel & Meetings Show also found 67 per cent of travel buyers do not have a green policy in place.