Thursday 2nd July, 2015

According to research by Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), a leading business travel agency, the cost of a business trip for those in the UK and Ireland dropped by 7.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. The average cost of a two-and-a-half day trip including hotel, car hire and flight was £428.26.

CWT, quarterly barometer barometer covers air, rail and hotel spend, destinations and ticket types. It also shows data from the preceding quarter to give a year-on-year comparisons to benchmark changes and development in the business travel industry.

The report said “UK business travellers were getting more savvy” by choosing standard and economy hotel rooms, booking air tickets more than 14 days in advance and moving away from business class tickets.

Despite the increased proportion of standard and economy category bookings, there was some high average room rate increases in key business destinations such as London, Houston and Singapore.

London was found to be the top destination for hotel bookings, while San Francisco had the fastest growth.