Business travelers are spending more per trip and traveling
for longer periods of time than they were a year ago, a Travel Leaders
Corporate analysis of its clients' activities shows.
According to the study, which examined more than 3 million
reservations during the second quarter, the average domestic trip taken by a
Travel Leaders Corporate customer this spring cost $1,028, up 6% from the
second quarter in 2014.
The higher costs were fueled by a year-over-year increase of
14% in the length of the average trip. Domestic business trips taken by Travel
Leaders Corporate clients now last more than three days on average.
Travel Leaders Corporate calculated the costs by factoring
what companies pay for airfare, hotels and rental cars. Rental car rates in the
second quarter of this year were down 7% from a year earlier, continuing a
trend that began in 2011. Airfare also was down, dropping 3% from last year to
an average of $454 per domestic trip. Still, plane tickets remain costlier than
they were from 2011 through 2013.
Hotel costs climbed 2% from last year, with the average
client of Travel Leaders Corporate spending $413 on lodging during their trip.
International trips, however, have gotten less expensive,
the analysis shows. The average cost of an international trip taken by a Travel
Leaders Corporate client during the second quarter dropped 2%, to $2,459.