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BTN data benchmarking CT100 show flat 2003, rising 2004.

Article Excerpt
Corporate America is on the move again. After three years of cutting, expenditure by the nation's 100 largest spenders on business travel--the BTN Corporate Travel 100--is heading north once more. The average worldwide travel and entertainment outlay for 77 companies with domestic net air spend higher than $30 million that participated in this year's BTN benchmarking efforts will rise from $267 million in 2003 to an estimated $287 million in 2004. Every other figure for this elite group is up as well. U.S. T&E will rise to $182 million this year, up from $174 million in 2003 and even the 2002 level of $178 million. Buyers expect U.S. booked net air spend to hit $77 million in 2004, after holding steady last year at $72 million.

Rising travel expenditure indicates a recovering economy but creates new headaches for travel buyers charged with bringing budgets under control. The good news is that nearly all of the benchmarks in our annual survey of the largest buyers indicate they are optimizing their travel dollars. They are achieving this through good use of negotiated deals, better financial arrangements with travel management companies and rapidly improving and automating processes. When executives from more than half of the 96 companies that contributed data for this year's benchmarking effort met at BTN's Corporate Travel World show in March in New York to trade cutting-edge tips on travel management, it was precisely such issues,...

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