United Kingdom


 

News Release

CWT Sees Record Year in Performance
Business Travel on an Upward Trend

 

AMSTERDAM, March 1, 2012 — Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) today announced record performance in 2011. Sales volume, at USD $28 billion, 1 grew by 15.2% compared to 2010 (USD $24.3 billion) and the number of transactions managed by CWT increased by 7.2% 2 year on year to reach 61.9 million.

 

CWT’s growth in 2011 can be attributed to several factors. CWT retained over 96% of its existing client-base, it won USD $2.2 billion in new business and acquired three companies: Kaleva Travel, Centenial Group and Net Tours. Moreover, growth was not limited to the traditional areas of business travel but also included CWT’s specialised areas of expertise: the company’s consulting arm, CWT Solutions Group, CWT Energy Services and CWT Meetings & Events.

 

CWT’s key performance indicators are in line with global trends indicating that business travel is increasing. “We are seeing strong growth across the industry, despite the unpredictable economic environment,” said Douglas Anderson CWT President and CEO. “Global corporations are more optimistic about their travel spend going forward and certain areas of the world, such as Asia and Latin America, continue to show strong growth.”

 

CWT’s results reflect regional economic trends around the world. CWT grew most in Asia Pacific, where transactions increased by 18.5% year on year, Latin America increased by 12.7%, North America by 5.2% and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) up by 6.2%.

 

2011 business highlights
On top of a record-breaking year in terms of performance, CWT introduced a range of new products and published regular business intelligence studies and best practices offering actionable insights into travel management.
•  CWT Market , a free mobile application that aggregates travel apps and mobile web sites.
•  CWT To Go TM , giving corporate travelers access to essential travel information (mobile check-in, flight status, gate changes, delays, etc.). 
•  CRS by CWT , a central hotel reservation system, consolidating non-GDS hotel content in one place.
•  CWT Travel Management Institute produced a series of publications giving insights into the business travel and meetings market, including Global Forecast 2012, Business Travel Market Trends in 2012 and Travel Management Priorities for 2012.

 

UK results
CWT UK supported the growth of the company’s overall achievements, with a 6 per cent increase in turnover from the previous year, totalling £1.19bn. UK transactions were down slightly from the previous year, by 1.9 per cent, due to public sector downtrading.

 

“CWT UK’s great performance in 2011 makes it a record year, surpassing 2008 levels, which were the strongest in business travel records,” said Patrick Anderson, executive vice president, UK & Ireland, Nordics and Eastern Europe. “2012 has its own set of challenges for the industry and things are still fragile, however we are encouraged by trading in the first few months that business travel continues to be a bellwether of gradual economic improvement.”

 

 1 Actual sales volume at current exchange rates; includes air, hotel and ground transportation for wholly-owned operations and joint ventures

2 Includes air, hotel and ground transportation for wholly-owned operations and joint ventures

 

About Carlson Wagonlit Travel
CWT is a global leader specialising in managing business travel and meetings and events. CWT serves companies, government institutions and non-governmental organisations of all sizes in more than 150 countries and territories. By leveraging both the expertise of its people and leading-edge technology, CWT helps clients derive the greatest value from their travel programme in terms of savings, service, security and sustainability. The company is also committed to providing best-in-class service and assistance to travellers. CWT services and solutions comprise Traveller & Transaction Services, Programme Optimisation, Safety & Security, Meetings & Events and Energy Services. In 2011, sales volume for wholly owned operations and joint ventures totalled US$28 billion. For more information about CWT, please visit our global website at  www.carlsonwagonlit.com. Follow us on http://www.twitter.com/CWT_UK.

 

Media contacts

Natasha Harvey
CWT Global
+ 33 1 41 33 62 34 (office)
+ 33 6 74 94 23 81 (mobile)
[email protected]

 

Christine Fischer or Carrie-Ann Cooper
CWT UK & Ireland
020 3353 1113/1110 (office)
+44 (0)7920 863 180 or +44 (0)7785 458 884 (mobile)
[email protected] or [email protected]