31 July 2006 | Rebecca Ellinor

Travel management companies (TMCs) are not achieving the level of savings travel buyers hoped, according to an Institute of Travel Management (ITM) survey.

And where TMCs are making savings, travel buyers are having difficulty quantifying them.

ITM said the issue is most pronounced in global travel programmes. A total of 60 per cent of buyers cited financial considerations as the main reason for switching to a global TMC, but only 38 per cent think the bottom line has improved as a result.

Colin Goldney, managing director of ITM's research partner Argate Consulting, said: "TMCs have to demonstrate their value to the travel procurement process more effectively."

ITM executive director Paul Tilstone said: "The issue is how long it should take for an organisation to see the expected incremental savings, if at all. The fact that the trend towards globalisation is not new, and that 44 per cent of our survey respondents control spends of over £20 million suggest that it may no longer be realistic to see financial return as the primary benefit of globalisation."

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