UK business travel defied the uncertainty in the outbound leisure sector by growing 4% year on year in the three months to June.
The Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC) reported a 6% increase in air travel transactions over the same quarter last year, an 8% rise in hotel bookings and 10% growth in car hire.
Only rail bookings took a tumble, down 2% on the same quarter in 2010. GTMC members account for about 80% of UK corporate travel spending. The feedback from members suggests long-haul travel to developing markets, rather than short-haul traffic, has boosted the booking figures – in sharp contrast to the leisure market which suffered a downturn to most medium and long-haul destinations this summer.
The GTMC’s quarterly transaction survey also highlighted a 6% rise in sales of ancillary services, such as visa and passport services, following a 6% decline in this area of business in the first quarter.
The fall in rail bookings was not a surprise given the level of government spending cuts, with the impact falling most heavily on domestic travel.
Anne Godfrey, GTMC chief executive, said: “Overall growth in business travel is healthy and steady, but the decrease in rail bookings is significant. It would appear that public sector cuts have impacted on rail transport, which has been popular with civil servants.”
Rail travel had boomed over the previous three years. The GTMC reported rail transactions up 16% year on year in the same quarter last year and 7% up in April to June 2009 compared with 2008.
Godfrey said: “This dramatic drop in transactions will be monitored carefully in coming months.”
Rail bookings are second only to air travel in the number of transactions handled by GTMC members, with almost 1.64 million air bookings in the three months to June and 1.1 million rail transactions.