Small to medium-sized firms are being urged to draw up travel policies and use corporate card payment systems to help better manage their business travel expenditure.
After salaries, business travel is the second-largest category of controllable corporate expenses.
Paul Robin, group event director at Business Travel Expo, says a travel policy can provide information for planning trips and help prevent 'demotivating' mishaps such as booking executives into accommodation miles away from meeting venues.
There is more to a travel policy than simply stipulating where to stay or when to fly economy or business class, says Ashutosh Agrawal, American Express head of corporate services, Greater China.
Small to medium-sized companies that spend less than US$2 million on corporate travel can take a tip from larger companies: most big firms have well-established travel policies that spell out the finer details in executive travel procedures, from reservations to reimbursement of expenses.
'Medium-sized corporations that spend between US$500,000 to $2 million and smaller companies that spend less than $500,000 are showing a growing interest in managing their travel expenses,' Mr Agrawal says.
Travel management companies can help corporations cut costs and organise travel programmes efficiently, he says.