Figures from the GBTA Foundation show business travellers from the UK, Germany and France are fairly evenly split between booking via traditional channels and alternative methods.
The study shows that three out of five in each country booked via a traditional channel i.e. travel manager, travel agent or online booking tool but a similar share used an alternative method such as supplier direct or online travel agent.
The study will make interesting reading for companies such as booking.com which launched its Booking.com for Business platform last year and says a fifth of bookings come from the business travel community.
As an example, 61% of business travellers from Germany say they used a traditional channel in the past 12 months while 60% say they used an alternative channel.
For business travellers from the UK, 59% say they used a traditional channel versus 64% that say an alternative booking method.
Even where travellers have access to an online booking system it seems they are largely allowed to use alternative methods as the chart above demonstrates.
