Business travel in the UK has recovered to levels last seen before the financial crisis in late 2008.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s Nigel Turner (pictured) said that corporate air bookings, as measured by data from the GTMC, had recovered during the last five years.
“Air is probably the best indicator of activity – there was a big dip in the final quarter of 2008 when the recession started and then it gradually started to come back,” said Turner at the CWT Exchange conference in London for the TMC’s clients.
“An encouraging aspect is that if you look at Q3 of 2013 compared to Q3 of 2008, then it’s almost flat. This is a good job as flat is the new up in most organisations.
“We also looked at hotels and rail which have both been bumping along the bottom and slightly increasing.”
Turner added that there was a “mixed picture” for business travel across the globe.
“If you look across EMEA we know about the problems in the Mediterranean countries,” he said. “The Far East is doing very well – as is the entire Asia Pacific region.
“America has been looking very strong but a lot of military and government business in the US is starting to be cut back.”
Event moderator Steph McGovern, who is BBC Breakfast’s business reporter, agreed that the UK recovery was “pretty flat but things were getting better”.
“Flat is good news for many businesses out there,” she added.