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Euro debt crisis could cripple U.S. business travel

February 20, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

According to a new report by the Global Business Travel Association Foundation, if the European debt crisis deteriorates any further it could have a significantly damaging impact on U.S. business travel, which in turn could greatly impede the economic recovery in the States that’s just now seeing progress.

The U.S. business travel industry has seen considerable gains over the past three years, which Michael W. McCormick, executive director and COO of the GBTA, attributes to the growth of outbound international travel. Last year alone saw business travel spending up 7.6 percent to $251.9 billion.

However, the current economic condition in Europe could cause business travel from the U.S. to Europe to pull back, resulting in a possible slump for top-line growth that's been fueled by "putting people on the road to find new business opportunities." Not to mention the Euro slid to a one-month low earlier this week after Moody's Investors Service put several European financial firms up for review, spelling bad news for the European banking system, as well as outbound international travel.

“There’s a strong correlation between business travel growth as a leading indicator for the overall health of the economy and for employment figures here in the U.S.,” McCormick says. “If there’s not a speedy resolution to the European debt crisis, then what we could see is a domino effect that could reach across the waters and start to have a deep effect on the economy in the U.S.”

Get the full story at Inc.com

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