by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Tue February 25, 2020
A new study found that companies spend more than $111.7 billion on business travel every year, with the average cost of a work trip totaling $1,286.
According to Runzheimer's Business Travel Expense Trends: Conference Travel Costs report, New York City topped the list as the most expensive place to visit on business, with an average total cost of $1,633.
As for the other most expensive cities to do business, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Washington round out the top five.
On the other hand, Orlando was the lowest cost area with an average total cost of $963, while Cleveland, Atlanta, Baltimore and Denver rounding out the five least expensive cities.
"Business travel is an essential part of any industry," market research analyst Ken Robinson said in a statement. "When planning travel budgets, understanding specific travel costs including airfare, car rentals, lodging and meals is critical, as they can vary widely between cities."
In addition to the average costs, the report also focused on how location impacts popular U.S.-based conferences, such as how attending the New York Comic Con will cost around 73 percent more than visiting the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Other findings in the study include lodging accounting for 34 percent of the average business trip cost, while airfare makes up 27 percent, meals make up 20 percent and car rentals make up 19 percent.
In addition, the most expensive times of year to travel are between January and March and September through October.
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