We all know recent years have not exactly been stellar for the business community, especially many smaller companies who have had to fight tooth and nail to keep their heads above water.
That being said, a recent report from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) indicates that spending for business travel, a portion of which is done through the airlines, is forecast to increase over the next 12 months.
According to the latest Business Travel Quarterly Outlook, spending on business travel is forecast to exceed $263 billion in 2012, a jump of 4.6 percent from a year ago. According to a GBTA spokesman, businesses nationwide have hit the reset button from where it was pre-recession. Essentially, businesses are back to the 2007 level when it comes to spending money for traveling.
Travel Expenses, Amount of Trips Prove Impactful
In breaking down the report a little closer, the bulk of the increase is forecast to be derived from growing travel expenses as opposed to an uptick in the number of trips undertaken. Even though the number of trips business travelers participated in last year was up 2.1 percent over the prior year, it is predicted they will post a small drop of 0.8 percent in 2012.
The big factor to remember is that business travelers are at or near the front of the bus when it comes to driving the U.S. economy. If business travel is substantially up, then it is rather safe to say that the health of the nationâs economy is doing pretty good overall.
According to research last fall from Deloitte LLP from 1,000 business travelers, more than 80 percent of them indicated they expected to take the same amount or even more business trips in 2012 as they did in 2011. In breaking down the numbers more closely, 16 percent of respondents ages 45 and older are planning additional trips in 2012, while 27 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 44 planned on traveling for work.
While it is not set in stone, it is genuinely a factor that as businesses start to witness signs of economic growth, they will feel better include to resume sending employees back out on the road.
Meantime, international outbound business travel is forecast to remain doing better than domestic trips.
Over recent quarters, international business travel has done better than domestic given the fact the cost of travel is higher and there has been a steady increase in the number of trips.
While there remains uncertainty about the economies at home and abroad, one thing is for sure. No business will dare give up the competitive advantage of in-person meetings, given the fact that all sales will become even more important.
So, is your business planning on increasing travel, keeping it at much the same level as of 2011, or decreasing such expenditures over the next 12 months?
Photo credit: latierraprometida.net
Dave Thomas, who covers among other items small business loans, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.
