Strong business travel recovery to continue in 2006 says American Express

American Express Business Travel has just released its 2006 Global Business Travel Forecast that indicates strong price increases in the global business travel industry and suggests a more challenging corporate travel buying market in the year ahead.

Although the pace varies significantly by region and country, published air and hotel prices worldwide are expected to rise considerably next year as business travel demand recovers in step with the global economy, outpacing the growth of supply in many markets.

Regions of strong business travel demand include Europe, North America and Japan, Asia-Pacific and Australia (JAPA), with significant traffic in the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic markets.

Globally for 2006, American Express Business Travel forecasts domestic/short-haul, economy class fares will rise by three to six percent and international/long-haul business fares increasing by three to five percent.

â