Business travel growth expected to slow in 2009

By Mark McSherry - Analysis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's not quite the death of the salesman, but growth in business travel will likely slow down significantly in 2009 as cash-strapped U.S. companies cut back on unnecessary trips by executives.

The trend has worrying implications for U.S. airlines, hotel and car hire companies, as well as the other industries that rely on the business traveller.

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) remains reasonably optimistic, predicting that the number of business trips will continue to expand next year -- but at a slower pace than the annual growth from 2004 through 2007.

"This year we saw a slowdown in the growth of business travel -- in 2009. We will see a continuation of that slowdown," said NBTA CEO Kevin Maguire.

"In some companies, we are already seeing major cutbacks in travel, while other companies have higher travel budgets in place for 2009," said Maguire.

The NBTA said the tough economic conditions are forcing companies to change the way they think about business travel.

One big change is that travelling on behalf of a company will no longer be seen as a perk, Maguire said in an interview.

"Business is business -- do you send people on trips for purposes other than accomplishing business goals? Not any more," said Maguire.