Business travel is back in a big way. American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), the world’s leading BTB travel platform, told company investors on a recent fourth-quarter 2022 earnings call that they expect total business travel spending to grow by 24% in 2023 to reach over a trillion dollars. Expectations for a strong year are supported by data from the company’s vast customer portfolio and studies from across the industry. According to the Global Business Travel Association’s Q1 2023 Business Travel Outlook Poll published at the end of January, domestic and international bookings are currently at 67% and 54% Read more
Europe
The ranking of Canada’s best travel rewards points currencies is back. Rewards Canada, the premier loyalty rewards resource for Canadians has revived its near decade old feature that looks at thel best rewards points to collect for travel. Canadians looking to save money on their travels or travel more luxuriously should look no further than collecting these top points currencies. The rankings released today can be found at : https://www.rewardscanada.ca/best-travel-rewards.html “If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck, well bang for your points that is ” says Patrick Sojka, founder of RewardsCanada.ca “you should look at collecting one Read more
If you’re a Canadian and you can’t find your friends or neighbors this week, look south. American Express says there’s “high demand” for international travel this March Break, and that Canadians seem to have headed south. Again. The company says the top five international destinations for Amex Cardmembers this March Break are: Florida London New York Los Angeles Las Vegas Yahoo Canada says Amex Trendex data found that 53 per cent of Canadians plan on spending more on travel this year, compared to 2022. The website also quotes Skyscanner as saying the top five destinations for Canadian travellers between March Read more
WestJet’s controversial takeover of Sunwing is set to be approved today by the Trudeau government. WestJet also has been given federal licenses for flights to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. The Globe and Mail this morning (March 10) reported that the announcement will be made today, providing WestJet with a huge increase in its share of the packaged vacation business. Calgary-based WestJet and Toronto-based Sunwing announced the proposed merger in March, 2022. The federal Competition Bureau later stated that the takeover would lead to fewer choices for Canadian travellers, and higher prices. The Globe story said the Trudeau Read more
According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers, 93% of them have trips planned in the next six months, the highest level in three years. A fifth of them have trips planned within a month, a quarter will travel in one to two months and almost a third have travel planned in three to five months. “Inflation, higher interest rates and other economic headwinds are no match for consumer demand for travel,” said Amir Eylon, President and CEO of Longwoods International. “The outlook for spring break travel and summer travel is very positive.” The latest Destination Analysts Read more
