Global business travel to grow 21% in 2021, trade group forecasts

Business travel spending is forecast to grow 21% this year worldwide, helped by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, but will not recover to pre-pandemic levels until the middle of the decade, a business travel association said on Tuesday. Spending on business travel is projected to rise to $842b in 2021, according to the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA) BTI Outlook, after dropping 52% in 2020 to $694b due to the pandemic. After a decade of steady annual growth, business travel is expected to have shown losses in 2020 that were 10 times greater than the declines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks or the 2008 recession, GBTA said. Despite the expected growth in travel in 2021, uncertainty around vaccination progress and US President Joe Biden’s policies can affect the recovery. “The continued rollout of the vaccine will be central to recovery globally, as will decisions the new Biden Administration makes regarding global trade and border and quarantine policies,” said Dave Hilfman, GBTA’s interim executive director.<br/>