Travel Leaders Corporate clients during the third quarter on
average paid slightly more for U.S. domestic air travel and car rentals than
they did a year earlier, but average costs for international air travel and
non-U.S. hotel stays each dropped by more than 5 percent, according to the
travel management company.
The average third-quarter international ticket cost declined
to $1,622 from $1,710, according to Travel Leaders Corporate. President David
Holyoke attributed the decline to demand that "continues to soften
somewhat. This softening is due, at least in part, to the economic uncertainty
in Europe."
The average domestic air travel cost rose year over year to
$412 from $400, a 3 percent increase. "Our early projections are that
those costs will increase slightly going into the first two quarters of
2013," according to Holyoke.
While the average third-quarter U.S. per-night hotel cost
held steady from 2011 levels at $140, the non-U.S. per-night hotel cost dropped
more than 5 percent, to $214 from $228.
The average cost for a U.S. car rental increased to $168 in
the third quarter of 2012 from $147, but the per-day car cost fell to $44 from
$46. "It continues to intrigue me that despite consolidation in the car
rental segment of our industry, the three major car companies remain very
competitive with corporate pricing as daily rates trend downward," according
to Holyoke. "It will be particularly interesting to see if further consolidation
will reverse that long-standing trend."