Biz travel is back: good news for meetings and airline industry

There are several signs that business travel has certainly made a comeback — good news for hotels, airlines, meeting planners and even car rental agencies.
 

The latest GetThere study, for example, shows biz travel is on the upswing.
“In 2011, the industry should see a greater increase in business travel,” said the GetThere Corporate Travel Benchmark Survey.
 

It added, however, that corporations are still heavily focused on reducing travel expenses.
 

“Even though the economy is rebounding and business travel is growing, corporations are using the lessons learned during the recession to continue to push for cost savings in their travel programs,” explains Suzanne Neufang, general manager of GetThere.
 

The GetThere survey of corporate travel managers at top businesses and organizations around the globe finds that 61 percent of those who responded expect their travel spending to grow from one to ten percent this year over 2010.
 

That’s a big difference compared with 2010, when roughly a third of managers reported only a slight increase in their travel budgets over 2009.
 

In addition to being good news for all providers of business-related travel, the trend also shows that corporations realize they need to travel more to increase business.
 

“Companies realize they had to get back on the road,” said Richard Anderson, the chief executive of Delta Air Lines.
 

"They do see they have to travel more to grow their business," said Neufang. "But they also see costs are going up — fares and room rates — and so their budgets have to keep up."
 

GetThere is an online corporate booking tool used by companies around the world that is part of Sabre Travel Network.
 

That company’s findings mirror estimates earlier this year by the Global Business Travel Association that indicated corporate travel has bounced back.
 

“There is a pent-up need for people to meet face to face again,” said Mark Ziegler, a corporate travel manager for a California technology firm.
 

For airlines, particularly, the comeback will help the bottom line. Business travelers these days are “more often found at the front the plane than at the back, where cuts in travel budgets confined them during the recession,” says The New York Times.
 

Last year, corporate travelers accounted for 36 percent of the domestic travel market, according to PhoCusWright. That includes revenue from airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, trains and cruises.
 

There’s no doubt that a recovery is underway in business travel that will help the overall industry but some observers wonder if higher fuel prices will severely limit the recovery.
 

By David Wilkening

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