The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has published its latest GBTA BTI Outlook report on Western Europe with forecasts for business travel spending in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain.
GBTA predicts business travel spending will grow throughout 2013 fueled by domestic business travel, yet Southern economies will continue to experience a challenging recovery. Key highlights from the report include:
· Germany is expected to achieve the highest levels of growth in the region with business travel spending expected to expand by 5 percent over 2013.
· The UK will undergo some improvements with 1.9 percent growth in business travel spend in 2013.
· Spain and Italy are both set to experience further declines in 2013 of -6.2 percent and -2.9 percent, respectively.
· GBTA forecasts a return to a stable environment for business travel in Western Europe for 2014, underpinned by more international outbound travel as trade levels recover.
· GBTA expects total business travel spending among the five countries to hit $184 billion in 2014.
Catherine McGavock, regional director for Europe for GBTA, said: “In the context of the struggling European economy our expectations for business travel spending in Western Europe are relatively positive for 2013. There are signs of recovery in Germany and the UK, with both expected to experience growth in business travel spending this year. We believe that this is the beginning of a wider trend in the region and expect growth in business travel spending to accelerate in 2014 to the levels we saw before the Eurozone crisis.”
“The results show that businesses throughout Europe are forecast to spend more on travel in 2013, starting a recovery that is projected to continue into 2014,” said Tad Fordyce, head of Global Commercial Solutions, Visa Inc. “Travel is a key driver of economic growth."
Visit www.gbta.org