UK business travel poised for strong growth

The UK’s business travel market is likely to grow by 1.9 per cent this year to around $41 billion before picking up speed in 2014 and 2015, according to the latest forecast from GBTA

The association is predicting that global spending on business travel will increase by 5.4 per cent to $1.12 trillion in 2013 compared to last year. The figures are included in its latest BTI Outlook – Annual Global Report & Forecast

GBTA said that business travel spending was “stabilising” in 2013 before seeing stronger growth in the following four years with predictions of increases of 8.2 per cent in 2014 followed by 7.6 per cent in 2015, 7.2 per cent in 2016 and 7.1 per cent in 2017.

This growth will mostly be driven by the continued economic strength of countries such as China, India and Brazil.

For the UK, which saw spending of $40.2 billion in 2012, the association said that corporate travel spending would go up 3.7 per cent next year followed by 8.1 per cent in 2015 and then 7.5 per cent and 7.9 per cent in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

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