Global business travel plummeted in 2009, recovered in 2010

ERJ staff report (DS)

Alexandria, Virginia -- Business travel spend around the world fell 8.8 percent in 2009 - the largest drop the industry has seen since the recession in 2001 and following the events of 9/11. However, economic recovery to date has surpassed expectations and, as a result, global business travel spend is projected to reach $896 billion in US dollars this year and grow to $1.2 trillion by 2014.

According to the report, while the world experienced the worst economic recession in 2008 to 2009 since World War II, the decline in business travel was worse in the recession of 2001. Business travel fell 11.5 percent in 2001 and strengthened by only 2 percent in 2002. Most of the 75 countries covered in the study faced worse declines in 2001 than in the “Great Recession” of 2009, including the United States (-9.4 percent vs -9.3 percent), despite experiencing two consecutive years of business travel spend loss in 2008 (-3.8 percent) and 2009 (-9.3 percent).

The study was sponsored by Visa, the credit card company and carried out by the NBTA Foundation, the research arm of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA).

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Press release from NTBA