The depreciating rupee has dented deep into traveler’s pocket. Due to the depreciation, Indian businesses on railway fares saw a 58 per cent increase and airfares saw a jump of 18 per cent in 2012, travel and expense management solutions provider Concur Technologies said in a report.
The report analyzes more than $50 billion in corporate travel and entertainment (T&E) spend. Leveraging expense data generated by its more than 18,000 corporate clients, this report provides businesses and travel managers with unique insight to help inform their travel and expense programs, enabling organizations to make more informed decisions.
“The rupee declined 12.4 per cent against the dollar from 2011 to 2012. Accounting for this change in exchange rates, we can see that India saw an 18 per cent increase in the average price of airfare. Rail costs also increased greatly, nearly 58 per cent,” according to Concur’s third annual global report on travel and entertainment spending.
According to the report, Bangalore once again emerged as the most visited city in India for business travel ranked at no. 12 in the 25 most visited cities followed by Mumbai ranked at 20 in terms of number of overnight hotel stays. Bangalore dropped from rank 11 in 2011 to 12 in 2012 with the average spend also dropping from around $258 to around $227 for categories of lodging, ground transport, dining, entertainment. On the other hand Mumbai maintained its position at rank 20, however, total average spend dropped from approx. $255 to approx. $238.
However, in terms of average transaction amount, Bangalore stood last at no. 25 with $227.83 and Mumbai at no. 23 with $238.37. The above average transaction amount has fallen in 2012 as compared to 2011 for both cities with Bangalore declining from $258.7 in 2011 to $227.83 in 2012 and Mumbai declining from $255.18 in 2011 to $238.37 – it is important to note here that though the spending in dollar terms has declined, the actual spending in rupees may have actually increased owing to the 12.4% decline of the rupee in the said period.
The average percentage spend on lodging (31%) was the highest in India as compared to other APAC countries like Japan (23%), Hong Kong (25%) and Australia (14%). India ranked the lowest in average entertainment spend at 2.44% and the highest being 8.14% in Japan.
Christopher Juneau, Senior Director, Marketing, APAC, Concur Technologies said; “Through this report we aim to help our customers in understanding and organizing their employee spends accurately. The report is a study of travel and entertainment spend across important business hubs of the world including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States. As we see an increasing interest by companies in automating their travel request to enforce travel policy prior to booking, Concur gives access to Low Cost Carrier (LCC) content that helps in driving the airfare lower.”
