International Business Travel News Report
For those who may not realize the total value of business travel these days, perhaps the results of a ten year study may shed light on the value of business travel and the corporate investment of business events for business development. A review of 9,500 U.S. companies across 15 industry between 1998 and 2008 reported that “an incremental one percent increase or decrease in travel spend yielded in aggregate a corresponding 1.7 percent increase or decrease in sales,” explains IHS Global Insight Principal Christopher Pike. Research was conducted by IHS Global Insight and previewed during the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) International Convention & Exposition in August, held in San Diego.
The research suggests that organizations should take a critical look at how they are investing their resources. And business travel should not be underutilized in industries for which business travel may help maximize corporate profits, such as chemical manufacturing (e.g., pharmaceutical and medicine) and retail/wholesale. “Using 2008 results as a starting point, the study shows that economy-wide corporate profits would be maximized at a point where business travel spending is increased by 5.3 percent,” explains Ken McGill, research consultant for NBTA.
