Leading IT supplier to the travel sector, Amadeus, have released a survey revealing Asia-Pacific companies are behind the U.S and Europe in terms of their travel management policies and need to be reviewed with the rise of corporate travel in the region.

Conducted by Intercedent Asia, the survey examined global companies in the Asia-Pacific which had spent over US$ 7 million to US$100 million towards business travel.

The survey claimed that corporations in the Asia-Pacific had not fully utilised Travel Management Companies (TMCs) and Self Booking Tools (SBTs) unlike businesses in the U.S and Europe.

Only 12.5% of respondents said they used an SBT while 30.6% of Asia-Pacific companies said they were interested in modifying their internal travel policies to allow the use of online SBTs.

However, many corporations stated they faced challenges in creating new travel management policies as they did not have a particular section for improving corporate travel methods. Other respondents also said that they were limited by the policies they were given by their head office.

94.4% of companies stated that they had conducted talks with suppliers to lower travel expenses while 83.3% of businesses conducted conferences via phone and video.

"In the past decade, the Asia-Pacific region has seen strong economic growth and heavy investment from global companies, particularly in the powerhouses of China and India,” said Amadeus Asia-Pacific’s President, David Brett.

"This is resulting in more corporate travel with an ensuing pressure to reduce travel costs, and many companies are now taking a second look at how to make travel more efficient and cost effective,” he added.