U.S. business travel growth predicted up, as group spending rises
Skift Take
Government budget cuts will have some impact on 2013 growth, but overall business sentiment is improving which is enough to keep travel spend climbing upwards at a significantly higher rate than 2012.
U.S. business travel is now expected to rise 5.1% in 2013 to $268.5 billion, which is an upgrade from the 4.6% growth to $266.7 billion that GBTA predicted last quarter and a substantial increase from 1.8% growth in 2012.
- GBTA’s forecast upgrade will be driven in part by stronger growth in group spending, which is now expected to increase 6.0% to $115.9 billion – up from 5.2% growth forecast in Q4.
- GBTA’s outlook for trip volume remains essentially the same from last quarter – a slight decline of -1.1% to 431.7 million person-trips.
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