Two new surveys predict business travel spending will increase in 2013, but that a high priority will be placed on economical spending. The Global Business Travel Association’s recent study projects that overall spending on business travel will increase in the U.S. by 4.6 percent this year, totaling $266.7 billion.
“At the end of the day, companies need to find ways to grow,” said Mike McCormick, executive director of GBTA. “So there will be this pressure to make investments and spend on business travel.”
Although spending is expected to go up, the study predicts that the number of business trips will decrease 1.1 percent from last year. Instead of more trips, many companies will try to make their trips count for more.
“Companies, and generally the travelers themselves, are trying to find ways to be more efficient about use of time, so that means adding more into a trip,” said McCormick.
Travel Leaders Group, a corporate travel management company, also released a new survey that found that almost 80 percent of responding travel agents expect their business travel clients will be on the road as much or more than they were in 2012.
About 40 percent of the responders said that making corporate trips economical was their No. 1 goal. Cost control was the top priority for 33.7 percent of responders.
For more information, read the USA Today article.
