Carlson Wagonlit Travel Reports Business Sales of US$1.6 Billion for 2014

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) has reported business sales of US$1.6 billion for 2014.

Overall sales volume increased by 1.6% to US$27.3 billion, reflecting the continuing variable global economic climate. The number of transactions managed by CWT increased by 3.3% to 62.3 million.

In the Asia Pacific region, transactions increased by 5% year-on-year, enhanced by operations in China and Japan. North American transactions increased by 6.3%, while transactions in Latin America increased by 3.3% year-on-year, despite soft performance in Brazil. A drop of 0.8% was recorded in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, reflecting the delicate economic climate throughout the region in 2014.

CWT’s client satisfaction scores were particularly strong, with a 97% retention rate, combined with 87% travel manager satisfaction rate and an 88% satisfaction rating from travelers. Last year also saw 345,000 user registrations for CWT To Go, CWT’s app.

Douglas Anderson, president & CEO of CWT, said, “We saw positive growth and developments for CWT in 2014, as we continued to focus on driving savings for our clients and enhancing our mobile technology for travelers on the go. Last year, we transformed CWT To Go from what was an itinerary management application to a travel application with the introduction of hotel booking and profile management. We helped bring door-to-door booking capability into the North American market and we created our dedicated innovation team, who will concentrate on the innovative partnerships, technology and products that we expect to drive our company in the future.”

CWT’s specialized business divisions recorded the following:

- CWT Solutions Group, the business consultancy arm of CWT, accelerated growth globally with an increase of 7.3% in global revenue. CWT Solutions Group achieved strong growth in emerging markets, including a 38% increase in Asia Pacific and a newly established presence in Brazil. CWT Solutions Group continued its focus on innovation with the launch of CWT Travel Gamification and published several whitepapers on the topic of Travel ROI.

- CWT Energy, Resources & Marine, CWT’s dedicated oil, gas services and maritime and drilling exploration division, saw a small decrease in 2014 revenues, reflecting the overall challenges faced in the global energy industry.

- CWT Meetings & Events organized over 33,000 meetings and events around the world for more than 1.3 million delegates, and had a revenue increase of 4.2 percent globally in 2014.

“We believe one of the most significant figures in our annual results is our client retention rate, which remained strong at 97%. This figure highlights our ongoing drive to support our clients in running cost effective travel programs and supporting travelers at every point of their journey. We will deliver significant new developments around our products and services, including the upcoming new data reporting tool, CWT AnalytIQs, which will be a major milestone in the year ahead,” Anderson concluded.