How Much?

The world economy is recovering... but the recovery is uneven, and that's illustrated in how business travel costs have increased, decreased or remained about the same in various regions.

For example, hotel and food costs have jumped in fast growing places like Canada and South America. But there are also regions such as Europe or India where prices declined, indicating slow or no economic growth.

 

In the US, the average daily per diem for food, hotel and miscellaneous expenses in the top 100 cities rose to $292 this year, about 1.6% higher than last year. This shows that the US economy is indeed experiencing improvement, but it's painfully slow.

To help companies establish per diems and estimate travel costs, trade magazine Business Travel News publishes its Corporate Travel Index at about this time every year.

Some interesting nuggets from this massive report:

• The top five highest per diems (cost for food, lodging, ground transport) in the US: New York ($574), Washington DC ($470), San Francisco ($462), Boston ($441), White Plains NY ($393).

 

• Hotel prices rose the most in San Francisco ( 26%!) Chicago ( 16%) and Boston ( 11%). Across the country, the average hotel rate crept up $8.

 

• In the US, Honolulu has the highest food costs at $124 per day, while the average for the US is $85. Business lunch costs rose faster than for breakfast or dinner.

 

• Car rental costs in the US declined 6% to an average of about $51 per day, all in.

 

• Average per diems in Canada and Latin America rose 5%, with Quito, Caracas and San Salvador experiencing the largest increases. In Canada, per diems rose the most in Calgary (up 14%) and Toronto (up 7%).

 

How Much?