Business travel may be on the rise this spring and summer, according to the results of a survey sponsored by the Travel Industry Association of America and a consortium of TIA member organizations.
The second wave of the TIA War Impact Survey, an online survey of 1,200 business and leisure travelers, was conducted from April 10 to April 15. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they plan to travel the same amount or more this spring or summer, up 4 percent from the first-wave survey conducted March 20 to 25. Just 26 percent said that their business travel budgets had been reduced, compared to 33 percent in the earlier survey.
While the end of the war in Iraq appeared to have a slightly positive impact on the travel industry, only 7 percent of business travelers said that fear of SARS was causing them to travel less. Results suggested that the sluggish economy is still the primary factor influencing travel plans.
