The slowdown in economic growth is not yet reflected in business travel. According to a VDR survey, the majority of companies are even scheduling more business trips.
Roughly 70 percent of the member companies surveyed by the VDR German Business Travel Association appear unperturbed by the turmoil on the financial markets and the uncertainty in the euro area caused by its sovereign debt levels. They predict an increase in business travel for the coming six months. In comparison to the current situation, this even represents a rise in the number of firms undertaking more business trips again.
At the moment not quite half of the companies are travelling more than they did during the 2009 financial and economic crisis. But according to the VDR, 20 percent of respondents are already cutting back again on business travel that is not absolutely necessary, whereas between 2010 and mid-2011 more travelling was done. Yet other firms have not increased the number of business trips despite the economic upswing in recent months, either because they feared a renewed slowdown in business activity (17 percent), because a drop in the order intake necessitated further cost cutting (34 percent) or because the restrictions on travel imposed in the economic crisis have proved effective (23 percent).
