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SMALL BUSINESSES WASTE £500 MILLION EACH YEAR BUYING TRAVEL

February 09, 2009
Business Travel Show launches Travel Calculator to help SMEs identify potential savings: http://www.businesstravelshow.co.uk/en/visitor-zone/travel-calculator.aspx 9 February 2009: A survey carried out by the Business Travel Show has revealed that SMEs (small to medium enterprises) in the UK are wasting up to £500 million each year by booking their own business travel and failing to adopt a company-wide travel policy.

There are 4.7 million* SMEs in the UK accounting for a massive £2.5 billion of business travel spend each year. Yet, claims Business Travel Show event director David Chapple, up to £500 million of this budget may have been spent unnecessarily.

“Many SMEs don’t have the time or knowhow to put a huge amount of effort into booking business travel and, more often than not, then end up online booking their travellers onto the same airlines and into the same hotels and meeting venues through the same consumer websites time and time again.

“But by doing this, rather than using a specialist online suppliers, they remain oblivious to an untapped pool of fantastic products and services, miss out on corporate user discounts and reward programmes, take a lot longer than a specialist and, most importantly, spend up to 20 per cent more than they need to.”

To help SMEs identify exactly how much money they can save by visiting the Business Travel Show to find new suppliers, the show has created an easy-to-use Travel Savings Calculator in association with Omega World Travel. The calculator can be found at http://www.businesstravelshow.co.uk/en/visitor-zone/travel-calculator.aspx.

To register for the Business Travel Show, please visit www.businesstravelshow.com. The event takes place from 10-12 February 2009 at Earls Court 2 in London.

NOTES TO EDITORS
* Source: Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, July 2008

About Business Travel Show:
The Business Travel Show was established 15 years ago and has since become the leading, dedicated event for suppliers of business travel products and services to showcase their latest offerings to buyers in the market. www.businesstravelshow.com. The Business Travel Show is part of the Business Travel Week.

About Business Travel Week:
From 9-13 February 2009, Business travel Week will be composed of five days of exhibitions, conferences, awards and networking events in London.

About Omega World Travel:
Omega World Travel has been providing travel management
expertise throughout all sectors of commerce, both public and
private, since 1972. For more information, please visit http://www.omegaworld.co.uk/index.html or visit Omega World Travel at the Business Travel Show on stand 424.