Prospects for European Business Travel Remain Weak

April 18th, 2013 |

The recent release of Rockport’s biannual GBTA BTI™ Outlook – Western Europe, which is commissioned by the GBTA Foundation and sponsored by Visa, indicates that business travel in the developed nations of Western Europe will continue to suffer under the weight of outsized sovereign debt burdens and the austerity programs prescribed as remedy.  We also expect the northern European business travel markets will continue to outperform their less stable counterparts to the south.  In 2013, we forecast business travel spending will advance 0.3% in Germany, 0.6% in France and 0.9% in the U.K.; meanwhile, spending will fall -1.4% in Spain and -1.1% in Italy.  Total business travel  spending among the five countries included in our analysis is projected to reach $184 billion USD (€145 billion EUR) in 2013.  Lean more.