TIA Forecasts Business Travel Turnaround

Business travel is expected to achieve a modest 0.4 percent annual increase in 2008, following a three-year drop in the market, according to a Travel Industry Association forecast release yesterday.

The forecast, which reports data for 2000 through 2006 and projections for full-year 2007 through 2010, predicts that business travel—inclusive of convention, seminar and transient travel—will increase another 0.6 percent in 2009 and 2.7 percent in 2010 to $518.2 billion. While the business travel market shows promise, it is a far cry from the $566.6 billion market it was in 2000. According to the report, business travel declined each year from 2000 through 2007, except in 2004, when it increased by 2.2 percent.

While the meetings market is showing strong growth, on the transient business travel side, "the difficulties in traveling and the new technologies that have been introduced to business travel and the implementation of corporate travel policies has made it a harder market," said Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research for TIA.