Most Buyers See Growing 2010 Travel Spend, Says NBTA Survey

More than half of the 180 travel buyers in an NBTA member survey released today project their travel spending to increase in 2010, while 31 percent expect no change in their year-over-year travel expenditures.

Those optimistic expectations would follow a year in which 73 percent of the respondents reported total travel expenditure decreases in 2009, including 21 percent who reported at least a 30 percent drop, according to the survey, which was fielded from Aug. 13 through Sept. 24.

Forty-two percent of respondents attributed their estimated 2010 volume hike to an increase in trips, despite the overall business travel price reductions forecast by travel management companies and NBTA's 2010 U.S. Business Travel Buyers' Cost Forecast, which the association also released today.

NBTA in 2010 projects airfares to range from a decrease of 2 percent to an increase of 3 percent from the 2009 average of $299. The forecast notes that ancillary fees could increase the cost of a ticket by 30 percent. NBTA projects average international coach airfares to average $1,236 and international business class airfares to average $3,750.

The association forecasts hotel room average daily rates to reduce 2 percent to 8 percent next year from a 2009 ADR of $136. Car rental rates from $46 per day are expected to decrease 1 percent to 3 percent.