The Global Business Travel Association projected U.S. business travel spending this year to reach record levels, rising 6.2 percent year over year to $310.2 billion. Expecting lower oil prices to boost travel spending in the United States, GBTA contrasted the health of the market with a "weak" economic outlook for other regions, "with trouble in Europe, Asia and Russia," according to the association.
GBTA forecast total person-trip volume in the United States this year to rise 1.7 percent to 490.4 million, according to its outlook report issued Jan. 13.
The spending and trip projections build on a "record" 2014 in which U.S. business travel spending reached $292.2 billion, according to GBTA projections.
GBTA executive director and COO Michael McCormick called 2014 "a stabilizing year for U.S. business travel," with 482.4 million trips taken, a 1.4 percent increase from 2013 levels. The pace of growth accelerated in the second half of the year, according to GBTA.
Last year also represented "a comeback year for international outbound business travel," up 6 percent in volume from modestly improved 2013 levels. Meanwhile, transient travel volumes in 2014 rose 3.5 percent year over year to 298.6 million trips. Regarding transient trends, "Volume will likely fall off pace slightly in 2015, although spending should continue, increasing from $130.4 billion projected in 2014 to an estimated $137.1 billion in 2015," according to GBTA.
Meanwhile, GBTA estimated group volume declined 2.2 percent in 2014, "stabilizing after extraordinary growth in 2013."
"Group spend per trip, however, is on pace to rise to $715 in 2014, up from $660 in 2013," according to GBTA's outlook. "Both volume and spending are expected to rise in 2015 by 1.5 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively."