“. . . On the chauffeured car side of the ground transportation segment, a majority of large market buyers, 57 percent, reported having contracts in place for those services. This is comparable to the levels seen in most recent years for Corporate Travel 100 companies, which this year saw the percentage of those companies with such contracts in place rise to 69 percent.
While car rental companies largely have been able to weather the economic downturn, chauffeured car companies have taken a brutal beating, resulting in job cuts, corporate-owned location closures by large suppliers and the annihilation of some smaller suppliers.
Like luxury hotels and private jets, chauffeured transportation became a toxic component of some travel programs, with buyers fearing that their use, even when heavily discounted, would be labeled as extravagant. As a double-whammy to the industry, many of its best customers in the financial services sector also have disappeared or faced severe cutbacks as a result of the economic downturn.”
Print | posted on Monday, November 30, 2009 9:50 AM