The GBTA which is the Global Business Travel Association just completed a study that shows just how much money we frequent business travelers generate for the US economy. Are you sitting down? Of course you are, you’re probably reading this on a plane.
Well here are the highlights. In 2012 (the most recent year that we have statistics) US domestic business travelers spent an average of $540 per trip, including $147 on lodging, $230 on transportation, $100 on food and beverage, $28 on shopping and $22 on entertainment.
The average business trip lasted 1.75 days and covered 268 miles (945 miles if primary transportation was by air). And the typical US business traveler takes about four daytrips and two overnight trips per month. That means that over the course of a year, a road warrior on average spends 19 nights in a hotel.
Now just who is the typical US business traveler? Well they are most likely to be mid-career (age 35-55) and usually employed in a managerial or professional position. Business travelers have an average annual household income of $102,329 and almost three-quarters of business travelers are married.
And now here’s the amazing part, Business travel in the US contributed $491 billion to US GDP in 2012. Essentially, every dollar of business travel spending generated about $1.28 in GDP in direct and spin off benefits.
Here’s how this breaks down. Of the $491 billion total, $208 billion accrued directly to businesses that served travelers or meeting attendees. The supply chain for these businesses received an additional indirect contribution of $120.5 billion, and finally the downstream spending of business-travel supported wages generated an induced contribution of $162.8 billion.
These are very serious numbers. And as you can see the business travel industry is important and impressive. We should all be proud of how much we business travelers contribute to the US economy.
