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Business travel confidence continues
Business travel agents are reporting a continued rise in confidence as flight bookings rise 4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2014.
According to the latest figures from the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC), air travel transactions are up for the fourth quarter in a row.
January to March 2014 also saw hotel sales rise by 12% year-on-year, rail climb by 10% and car hire by 17%.
But by far the biggest jump was in ‘other’ services, which includes consultancy services, ferries, visas, currency exchange and meet and greet, which grew by a record 78%.
“The results from the GTMC’s first quarter transaction survey of 2014 are very positive, proving yet again that business travel continues to go from strength to strength, with a significant and surprising increase in business travel add-ons,” said GTMC chief executive Paul Wait.
“Business air transactions also continue to rise as business confidence increases and the Chancellor’s recent about turn on APD is part of that. Increased business travel is good news for UK plc, and I’m optimistic that the pace of growth will continue to increase. It’s an exciting time for our sector and a good opportunity for TMCs to continue to demonstrate their worth.”
But the GTMC said that the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is increasing at a slightly greater rate than air volumes, suggesting that purchasing managers are cautiously increasing their travel spend.
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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