British business travellers are taking more domestic business trips but the spend on these trips is down, according to research from the Office for National Statistics.
The Great Britain Tourism Survey looks at domestic trips within the United Kingdom. Its headline findings were that British residents took 124.4 million trips, spending 377 million nights away from home.
Business travel accounted for 13% of all trips — some 16.5 million - in 2015. This compares with 15.9 million in 2014, an increase of 3.8%.
Domestic business travellers spent 37.6 million nights away from home. They spent just over £4 billion on those trips, down from £4.1 billion in 2014.
The bulk of the business trips carried out in 2015 — some 13.9 million — were to England and our charts this week break down that information further.
The chart below shows the distribution among various regions within England: as we might expect, the most frequently visited destination on business was London.
The research found that 73% of domestic travellers stayed in a hotel or motel and that 59% drove a car to their destination, against the 25% who took a train.
As shown below, the research found that March and October were the busiest months for starting a business trip.
Of those trips, 57% were booked online. Of the two-thirds of travellers who made a firm booking in advance, 37% booked their accommodation directly while 12% used a travel agent.
The research reveals that 71% of those taking domestic business trips are married. Having children also reduces the likelihood of taking a trip; 69% of those travelling have no children.
The Great Britain Tourism Survey is carried out face-to-face throughout the year and some some 100,000 respondents are contacted. Anyone who has returned from an overnight trip within the past four weeks are asked to describe the details of that trip.