The number of domestic business trips grew 3.6 percent year over year in April, according to the U.S. Travel Association's Travel Trends Index. This is the first time in three years that domestic business travel has grown for four consecutive months. Business travel growth also outpaced leisure travel growth in April.
USTA attributes the increase in domestic U.S. business trips in April to Easter's timing, which pushed some conventions and meetings from March to April. Easter also caused total business and leisure international inbound travel to the U.S to fall slightly in April. The USTA forecasts that international inbound travel and domestic travel each will grow in the next six months.
The USTA and Oxford Economics analyze multiple public and private air and hotel traffic sources to determine number of trips to U.S. destinations and which ones are international. They define all others as domestic U.S. They determine which hotel stays are leisure based on location, type of property and day of the week and define all other stays as business travel.
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