Spending on business travel in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy is expected to grow by more than six percent this year and next, signaling an acceleration of economic activity in Europe, a study by a leading association has shown.
The financial crisis once forced companies to šcut back on business travel, and a stronger recovery in this sector was only recorded last year.
This year, spending on business travel in the five Western European countries is expected to rise by 6.4 percent, and by 6.3 percent in 2016, according to research from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).
This would bring the market value next year to $210.6 billion, compared to $186.3 billion in 2014, Reuters reports from the study results.
In 2009, the market slid to just $171.7 billion, and in the following years, it grew on average by 2.4 percent in the five mentioned countries, indicating that estimates for this and next year show significant acceleration.
“The study shows that the European economy is gaining momentum and is slowly leaving economic troubles behind,” concludes Catherine McGavock, regional vice president of EMEA, ahead of the Frankfurt meeting organized by GBTA, which starts on Monday and runs until Wednesday.
However, the picture is not entirely positive, as spending on business travel in Germany, the largest market in Western Europe with an estimated value of $57.9 billion, is expected to grow by 9.5 percent in 2016. It is also expected to grow significantly by 6.2 percent in the United Kingdom, thanks to reduced unemployment and lower fuel costs that encourage spending.
France and Italy, on the other hand, will see noticeably modest growth in business travel spending, at 3.4 and 1.9 percent, respectively, due to weaker economic growth.
The five mentioned countries account for nearly 70 percent of the Western European business travel market, notes Reuters.
