"Business travelers are doing more on fewer trips, study says"

Monday, April 16, 2012

Business travelers are doing more on fewer trips, study says
Many of them are staying a few extra nights to handle more work instead of
making multiple excursions, according to the Global Business Travel Assn.
report.
By Hugo Martín
The Los Angeles (CA) Times
 

Although many signs point to a strengthening U.S. economy, the overwhelming
sentiment in the business travel world remains doing more with less.

That attitude came across in a recent study that found many business
travelers are staying a few extra nights to handle more business instead of
making multiple trips.

Partly as a result, the estimated total number of trips in the U.S. dropped
22.7% from 2000 to 2011, but overall spending on business travel increased
3.3%, according to a study released last week by the Global Business Travel
Assn., a trade group in Virginia.

In 2000, the association estimated that Americans spent $243 billion on more
than 576 million business trips. Last year, spending on business trips rose
to $251 billion, but the number of trips dropped to 445 million, according
to the group.

The average amount spent on a business trip in 2000 was $422, compared with
$564 in 2011, the trade group said. Nearly two-thirds of that increase was
the result of inflation, the association said, and about a third came from
higher spending.

"This trend makes sense," said Michael W. McCormick, the association's
executive director. "We're seeing road warriors taking fewer trips but
making the most of them, making more stops and spending more on the road."


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