US Corporate Travel Budget: 5% Rise Expected; Sellers Market Taking Over

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA), in its 2010 Industry Pulse: Business Travel Buyers’ Sentiment stated the average corporate travel budget was up 5.5% in 2010 compared to 2009 and expects it to expand an additional 4.45% in 2011 to USD 98 million. NBTA surveyed 170 North American corporate travel buyers and found that more travellers (38%) are taking more trips (51%) this year. Increasing outbound international business travel and higher costs are also large driving forces behind the increase in total travel spend. With the exception of domestic car rentals, travel buyers expect domestic prices to rise between 3% and 4.5% in 2011. Travel companies, including airlines, are wielding more negotiation power making corporate discounts harder to come by.

	2009 USD	Estimated 2010 Change	Projected 2011 Change
Domestic Airfare	$442.00	4.17%	4.48%
International Coach Airfare	$1,137.00	3.21%	3.81%
International Business Class Airfare	$4,084.00	3.24%	3.93%
Domestic Hotels	$160.00	-0.52%	2.98%
International Hotels	$322.00	1.10%	2.84%
Domestic Car Rentals	$48.17	0.23%	0.74%

The international share of U.S. business travel spend in 2009 was 28 percent; this share is expected to increase. Outbound international spend per company is estimated to increase by 13 percent in 2010 to $28.2 million. Travel buyers expect their international business travel spend to further increase by 11.4 percent to $31.42 million in 2011.