by Donald Wood
Last updated: 5:37 PM ET, Mon July 17, 2017
A new report released Monday by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation and the American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) highlights the positive economic impact business travel has on the United States economy.
The study, dubbed The U.S. Business Travel Economic Impact Report, revealed business travel was responsible for about three percent, an estimated $547 billion, of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016.
The report also claims every one percent change in business travel spending has ripple effects, including a gain or loss of 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in GDP, $3.3 billion in wages and $1.3 billion in taxes.
In 2016, businesses in the U.S. spent $424 billion to send employees on the road for 514.4 million domestic business trips. As a result, the business travel industry supports 7.4 million jobs and generated $135 billion in federal, state and local taxes.
"The way that people and companies conduct business has undergone transformative, digitally-led changes in the past 20 years. Yet, the U.S. Business Travel Economic Impact Report shows that face to face interaction enabled by business travel remains a critical business tool," GBT Senior Vice President David Reimer said in a statement.
"Today's modern business travelers want access to all content, to the best personalized rates and fares, and via consumerized channels. To sustain business travel's economic impact, our industry must continue to evolve to meet the needs of these travelers."
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The new U.S. Business Travel report also broke down averages for employees forced to hit the road. Last year, the average spent per business trip fell 2.2 percent to $520, including $163 on lodging, $180 on transportation, $94 on food and beverages, $33 on entertainment and $50 on shopping and merchandise.
Around half of the business trips during 2016 were taken for transient purposes, while 28 percent were taken for group travel purposes and 25 percent were taken for a combination of business and leisure.
In total, around 94 percent of total trip-oriented business travel spending was domestic.
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