Travel management companies have reported a 7% rise in transactions in the third quarter, from July to September.
The figures come from the trade body GTMC, whose members account for over 80% of UK expenditure on managed business travel.
The transaction increase was achieved as the UK’s GDP growth slowed to 0.5% in the quarter, although it rose by 2.3% year-on-year.
The GTMC said a big driver was growth in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which in 2014 generated a turnover of £1.6 trillion, compared with £2 trillion generated by larger companies.
"We remain cautiously positive but there is still a lot more work to be done," said GTMC chief executive Paul Wait.
"Despite the growth in SMEs, the economic news for many of the UK’s trading partners has not been good.
"With recent world events also taken into consideration, this supports our drive to encourage business in emerging markets."
He took the opportunity to voice the GTMC’s concerns over the lack of progress with airport expansion in the UK.
"The evidence is here to show that the recent announcement of the continued procrastination from the government on this matter is nothing but detrimental to the health of the UK’s economy," he said.
"Positive figures from British SMEs are not enough to support the required growth for the country to compete globally in the mid-long term."
