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Spending on business travel is projected to
rise to $842 billion in 2021, according to the Global Business
Travel Association's (GBTA) BTI Outlook, after dropping 52% in
2020 to $694 billion due to the pandemic.
After a decade of steady annual growth, business travel is
expected to have shown losses in 2020 that were 10 times greater
than the declines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks or the 2008
recession, GBTA said.
Despite the expected growth in travel in 2021, uncertainty
around vaccination progress and U.S. President Joe Biden's
policies can affect the recovery.
“The continued rollout of the vaccine will be central to
recovery globally, as will decisions the new Biden
Administration makes regarding global trade and border and
quarantine policies," said Dave Hilfman, GBTA's interim
executive director in a statement.
As U.S. airlines also expect, the group said businesses are
likely to spend more on travel that cannot be duplicated with
online meetings such as sales calls and service trips.
The proportion of companies' travel budget spent on internal
meetings is estimated to decline 6%, compared with 2019, the
group said.
By the end of 2024, business travel spending is projected to
reach about $1.4 trillion, nearly equaling the 2019 pre-pandemic
revenue peak of $1.43 trillion, the group said. It projects a
full recovery in 2025.
Key developing economies in Asia Pacific will drive global
growth in business travel over the next decade, the group said.
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
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