Agency sells staying put

A corporate travel specialist has a new strategy - encouraging some business people not to travel. Photo / Thinkstock

A corporate travel specialist has a new strategy - encouraging some business people not to travel.

Martina Eggler, vice-president of strategic accounts of CarlsonWagonlit in Germany, said as part of a travel smarter strategy, the company was encouraging "trip avoidance" in some cases.

"Although there are situations where it is nice to go to a beautiful location, business travel can sometimes be extremely stressful, so trip avoidance is definitely part of our travel smarter strategy," Eggler said during a panel debate at the International Transport Forum summit in Leipzig, eastern Germany.

Business travel was changing.

"In former times a typical business trip was to get in a company car, go to the airport, get a plane, then take a taxi and go to a hotel," she said.

"A business trip today you could share a car to the railway station, take a train and when you arrive at the destination, get a bike and, instead of a hotel, go to a shared apartment."

She said her company was moving from just booking trips to a more consultative role for firms and kept control of costs, and made travel more environmentally sustainable.