The Travel Industry Association of America is reporting a 3.8 percent increase in the number of domestic business trips in the first half of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003 — the first solid increase in years. According to TIA, business travel was on a steady slide from 1998 to 2003, dropping 14.2 percent overall during those years and more (16.5 percent) if you look only at those attending meetings and conventions.

The numbers come from TIA's 2004 Business and Convention Travelers Report, released in February, which includes results of an online survey of 2,043 U.S. business travelers, sponsored by the National Business Travel Association and its research foundation, the Institute of Business Travel Management.

Some additional findings:

• One in five U.S. business travelers expects to travel more between September 2004 and August 2005 than the previous year, and 59 percent expect to travel the same amount.

• The percentage of business air travelers using a communication technology to replace travel was down from 47 percent in 2002 to 40 percent in 2004.