If you travel a lot for business, you might be racking up a lot more miles in the air in 2015.
Business travel spending is expected to increase 6.2% this year, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the Global Business Travel Association, a trade group for the corporate travel industry.
“This is especially important, given that US business travel spending is a good indicator for the direction of the U.S. Economy,” the GBTA said in a statement.
The report comes just days after a series of terror attacks in Paris that threatens travel to Europe, a hot spot for tourists and business travelers alike. However, Coins2Day spoke with a variety of travel experts who suggested that any impact wouldn’t last for long and that business would essentially continue as usual thereafter.
The association expects the volume of trips globally to increase 1.7% this year to 490.4 million trips in 2015. There were an estimated 482.4 million trips in 2014, a 1.4% growth over the previous year.
Last year saw a 6% increase in business travel spending, a welcome sign after the recent struggle during the financial downturn. The report called 2014 a “comeback year for international outbound business travel” after a meager 1.1% increase in 2013 and a 1% decline a year earlier.
The report predicted, too, that steeply declining oil prices could be a boon for the travel industry in 2015 because of potentially cheaper airfares.
“Oil prices have plunged since June, creating favorable conditions,” according to the GBTA.
Also helping to drive an expected increase in travel is an improving U.S. Economy and greater profits for business in 2015. The more growth and profits, of course, the more travel.
Additionally, the U.S. Dollar is gaining strength, while the global economy remains weak, according to the report. “By way of a small silver lining, however, a rising dollar also makes international outbound business travel less expensive.”
