Driven by demand and high occupancy rates, hotel prices will rise by 1-3%, while airlines will put up fares by an average 1-2% to compensate for higher fuel and labour costs.
Rate increases will be higher in Asia, particularly Japan, host of the 2020 Summer Olympics, and Vietnam, where both leisure and business travel demand is strong.
BCD Travel’s newly released 2020 Industry Forecast includes a regional breakdown on what’s ahead for business travel. It reveals that airfares in Latin America will experience the largest increase, jumping 3% as demand recovers, while intercontinental business class fares will remain the same.
Hotel demand will boost occupancy rates in 2020 with Asia, the US and Canada seeing average increases of 2-4% as demand outpaces supply. Latin America will have the lowest increase at 0-2%, as demand in the region slowly recovers from a period of weakness.
According to the report, the meetings and events sector will also experience higher costs, particularly in Europe where high demand will push prices up by 3-4%. Similarly, meetings costs will rise sharply in Sydney, Australia and Auckland in New Zealand.
“As we approach 2020, corporate travel buyers face the prospect of a slowdown in advanced economies, while the performance of emerging markets improves,” says BCD Travel’s Director for Research and Intelligence, Mike Eggleton.
“We believe this will restore the traditional growth gap that had recently narrowed between mature and emerging markets.”
In addition to providing global supply, demand and pricing trends for the air, hotel, ground transportation and meetings categories, the Industry Forecast includes in-depth reports on Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and Southwest Pacific.
Earlier this year, 2020 forecasts from both CWT and Amex GBT also predicted maringal price rises in the year ahead.
To read the full report, visit:
