GBTA FIGURES CONFIRM STEADY GROWTH

AS BRITISH BUSINESS MAKES ITS MARK

British business continues to make its mark on worldwide commerce, with the steady upturn in business travel continuing apace.

Latest figures from the Guild of Business Travel Agents, whose members include all the top UK travel management companies, show another substantial year-on-year increase in the number of business trips undertaken.

In the first quarter of this year, there was a seven per cent rise in the amount of air travel and an 11 per cent increase in rail bookings compared with the first quarter of 2003.

The increases follow Q4/03 increases of eight per cent in both air and rail bookings.

“Business travel in the first quarter of last year was adversely affected by the build-up to the Iraq war,” admits Philip Carlisle, the GBTA's chief executive, “but this year's first-quarter increases are nevertheless gratifying.

“The real downturn didn't come until the second quarter of last year, so these improvements are a very positive indicator of the underlying upward trend.”

The GBTA, which next year changes its name to the Guild of Travel Management Companies, is made up of 35 of the largest and most influential business travel organisations in the country.  Between them, GBTA members handle some 80 per cent of all British business travel.

The first quarter of 2004 saw GBTA members process more than 1.35 million airline bookings, half a million hotel stays, and half a million rail trips.

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For further information: Vanessa Aves, Brighter Group, tel: 0207 603 2168

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