Brexit is the biggest challenge facing business travel buyers next year and will continue to cause them problems as far ahead as 2022.
But a poll of 134 European buyers showed that 65% of travel managers do not have a post-Brexit plan in place.
The survey for the Business Travel Show in London in February saw cost-cutting knocked off the top spot of the list of forthcoming challenges to be replaced by Brexit.
Airbus UK travel manager Geoff Allwright even admitted that Brexit is the one thing that “keeps him awake at night”.
While pricing, the value of sterling, globalisation and technology also make the 2019 top ten, duty of care and traveller risk have dropped out of the chart completely.
Buyers were also asked what they expect to be the biggest challenges facing them in three years’ time, with Brexit and cost-cutting the main concerns.
Visas also made an appearance in seventh place, mirroring the general concern about the impact that Brexit will have on the free and easy movement of people across borders.
Business Travel Show group event director David Chapple said: “Whether for or against the UK leaving the Europe Union, the last few months have been particularly frustrating and baffling for both sides leaving everyone possibly even more uncertain about any potential outcomes than they were a year or two ago.
“Because of that, I think our poll captures the zeitgeist perfectly and it doesn’t surprise me that – right now – buyers are more concerned about Brexit than cost cutting.”