The survey's findings, polled from more than 3,000 of the most frequent travelers from nine countries across America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, identify their habits, and probes the growth -- and limitations -- of the Internet. The findings reveal that:
 

The more business executives travel, the less they rely on travel agents for flights; and the more they rely on independent printed guides, the more highly they rate them. Among business travelers making up to 10 trips a year, 17% use guides and 63% use travel agents. But among those making more than 30 trips a year, those using guides goes up to 31% and the number using travel agents down to 57%. A quarter of all business travelers use printed guides to book flights and 15% use them to book hotels.

More laptops are taken on trips than ever before -- six out of ten travelers will use them during a flight, and 97% in the hotel. Three-quarters of business travelers with laptops had an Internet connection and more than half used this facility while away.

Cultural traits again shine through. The Brits are best at rebelling against company travel policies, the French are comparatively nonchalant about safety and punctuality, and the Germans punish themselves with the longest time away. The Italians get upset if challenged on their amount of carry-on luggage, while Americans play computer games on their laptops. The Australians love the VIP lounge, and the Japanese are fond of good luck charms. The Singaporeans hit room service hard, while Hong Kong travelers head for the chauffeur-driven limo.

And, all travelers like their frequent flyer membership, with the momentum of recent years maintained at a very high level. The international business traveler still belongs to just over three programs on average, while employers have dug their claws deeper into control of this area. Nearly nine in ten of the most frequent business travelers are now bound by some form of corporate travel policy.

This year's survey probed deeper into the use of the Internet, to establish the use of this medium, and predict its progress. About two-thirds of all travelers surveyed have access to the Internet and one third have used it to get travel information. But fewer have used it to book flights (10%), hotels (13%) or rental cars (just 6%), indicating that there is still a leap of faith to be made between browsing and booking on-line.

Jonathan French, Publishing General Manager at OAG Worldwide, said, "The business watchword of today, according to the 1998 survey, is 'control,' with the surprisingly higher numbers of frequent business travelers now booking within the constraints of company policies. Such control -- over such a high annual spend -- is completely logical, but the increase among those affected from two thirds to nearly nine tenths, is high."

In tandem with this is the "thumbs down," from both employers and travelers, to the Internet for actually booking fares, rather than just checking flight schedules. "Greater use would give the employer less control over the costs of business travel, and give the travelers more hassle. The time will come for direct booking systems, but they need to be much more readily accessible and comprehensive."

NOTE: (1) The OAG Business Travel Lifestyle Survey 1998 represents the views of more than 3,000 business travelers from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. It was commissioned by OAG Worldwide and conducted by independent market research company Travel and Tourism Research. The survey is renowned in the travel industry as the ideal way to track the traits and trends of international business travelers.
(2) OAG Worldwide, a division of Reed Business Information and a member of the Reed Elsevier plc group, publishes travel information products in print and electronic format under the OAG brand, including OAG Pocket Flight Guides, OAG FlightDisk, OAG HotelDisk, OAG World Airways Guide and OAG Desktop Flight Guide. OAG's data is also transmitted to the world's global distribution systems used by travel agents, airlines and associated organizations throughout the world.