Business travel transactions grew strongly in the second quarter of this year, according to figures from members of the GTMC.
Total transactions through 38 GTMC members were up by 8 per cent to 4.5 million during the three months to the end of June compared to the same period in 2012.
This compares to a decline in overall transactions of 4 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter of this year.
Air bookings rose by 4 per cent during the second quarter to 1.83 million for GTMC members while hotel transactions went up by 16 per cent to 1.14 million year-on-year compared to 990,000 the previous year.
Meanwhile rail bookings grew 7 per cent to 1.36 million – a major reversal from the 11 per cent decline seen in the first three months of 2013.
Car hire also continued to grow strongly in the second quarter with a 9 per cent rise to 94,000 – up from an increase of 7 per cent during the first quarter.
GTMC chief executive Paul Wait said: “Britain is about to get back to business. It is getting back to business travel too – and not before time.
“GTMC members believe that business travel is not a cost to business but a necessary investment to drive economic growth and prosperity in the UK.”
The guild has also drawn a link between business travel and several economic indicators in its Quarterly Review, such as GDP, business confidence monitors, purchasing data and the performance of the London Stock Exchange.
“The business travel handled by GTMC members and confidence move in tandem; both the business confidence monitor and the FTSE 100 mirror changes in the number of transactions handled by GTMC members,” said the GTMC in its review.
Wait added: “It is my firm belief that business travel and the health of the UK economy are closely linked and two new charts in the latest Quarterly Review, looking at entrepreneurialism and the stock markets and their links to business travel, underline that point.”
For the first six months of 2013, total transactions through the GTMC have risen 1.9 per cent to 8.92 million compared to 8.76 million during the first half of last year.
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