Global drop in business travel expenditure in Europe in 2012. - In its latest biannual report on the prospects of the business travel sector for Western Europe, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) anticipates a global drop in business travel expenditure on the principal European markets in 2012, picking up in 2013. The report analyses the situation on the five largest European markets (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain), which represents nearly 70% of the business travel sector in Europe. The drop will be particularly steep in Spain and Italy this year and is expected to continue in 2013. The statistics were established on the basis of the BTI business travel index, which determines the performance of the market over a given period of time. According to the report: Overall business travel expenditure on the five largest European markets will fall by 2.2% in 2012 to a level of €177 billion, before climbing 1.4% in 2013; German business travel expenditure is expected to rise by 1.6% to a level of 50.8 billion dollars in 2012. Internal business travel expenditure will increase by 2.8%, but international travel will decline by 3%. Overall growth of 3.3% is forecast for 2013; Business travel expenditure in the United Kingdom is set to remain stable in 2012 ($40.2 billion). International business travel will fall by 3.1% and internal business travel expenditure will rise by 1.6%. Total expenditure is expected to increase by 2.8% in 2013; Business travel expenditure in France will drop by 2.2% to reach a level of $35.7 billion in 2012. Internal travel is set to remain stable, whereas outgoing international business travel will drop by 5.7%. Overall growth of 1.1% is anticipated in 2013; Spanish business travel expenditure will be down 7.8% in 2012 to a level of $17.9 billion. Total expenditure on internal business travel will drop by 5.9% and international travel as well, but at a considerably greater pace (-14.4%). A fall of 1.6% is forecast in 2013; Italian business travel expenditure will fall by 6.9% in 2012 to $32.9 billion. Internal travel expenditure will be down 6.5% and international travel 10%. An overall fall of 1.2% is expected in 2013. The report goes on to stress a major correlation between the growth of employment and internal business travel expenditure, as the latter tends to precede increases in employment by around one quarter of a year. This trend can be seen in the five target markets studied and has also been noted in the United States and Brazil. The analysis also showed a strong correlation between outgoing international travel and exports, as international travel expenditure tends to precede exports by one or two quarters. (IL/transl.fl)