Business travel spend declined by 77 per cent in Western Europe as a result of Covid and losses for the year “are expected to be ten times larger than the impact of either 9/11 or the Great Recession of 2008”.
The findings, contained in the annual BTI Outlook from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), predict a global decline in spend of 68 per cent to US$738 billion for the period from 1 April to the end of 2020. The association said that a relatively strong (pre-Covid) first quarter of 2020 meant that decline in spending for the full year will be limited to a 52 per cent decrease to US$694 billion, from US$1.4 trillion in 2019.
In the ten years to 2020, business travel has grown by an average of 5.1 per cent per year.
For Eastern Europe, the decline in spend is put at 63 per cent for the three quarters from 1 April and 50 per cent for 2020 as a whole.
There is light at the end of the Covid tunnel, however. The report predicts a 21 per cent increase in business travel spending for 2021, although most of this is expected to come at the end of the year as vaccinations increase globally and consumer confidence returns.
“The pandemic has been devastating for business travel and it’s clear our industry will take some time to recover given the challenges we’re facing on multiple fronts. Economic recovery is already underway, although very uneven across countries and sectors,” said Dave Hilfman, interim executive director of GBTA.
“The continued rollout of the vaccine will be central to recovery globally, as will decisions the new Biden Administration and other governments around the world make, regarding global trade and border and quarantine policies. GBTA will continue to work on restoring consumer confidence so travel can come back safely.”