This week BTE reports on new trends in buying as corporates seek to counter the tougher economic times, on profits for two leading hotel chains and on Virgin Atlantic's latest blast against the proposed BA-American Airlines tie up.
A report from Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) suggests that buyers are becoming increasingly smart and canny in the light of the economic slowdown and the impact on fares from the price of fuel.
Clients, said HRG, were becoming more concerned about the reasons for a trip, were making greater use of flexible fares and best deal of the day and making more use of alternatives to travel like video conferencing.
Similar findings are also reported by Amadeus which found that 51% of the business travel agents it questioned said fuel prices were having an affect on demand for air bookings.
A majority of these agents were also finding that clients were booking more rail trips largely, say the agents, because of the economic conditions.
This is not surprising but what also emerges from the two reports is that companies seem to determined to go on travelling as much as in the recent past if there is a good reason for it.
HRG said that corporates had not lost sight of the value of face to face meetings while the majority of Amadeus's agents said that they expected bookings to increase in the next six months.
It still seems that the long predicted recession has not arrived or - as far as business travel is concerned - is not even on the horizon.
With the price of oil down from what it was just a few weeks ago and for the moment looking more stable, there is good reason to hope that this will continue to be the case.
* BTE is taking its annual two week summer break from this week. We wish all our readers who have not yet had their holidays an enjoyable and relaxing time. We return on September 4.
Stanley Slaughter
Editor
Business Travel Europe