Travel managers expect travel costs to rise again next year. In particular, new destinations for business travelers will lead to more expensive flights: while short and mid-haul flights are cutting costs, the number of expensive long-haul flights is increasing.

A rough generalization would be: “Things will remain the same – travel costs will continue to climb in 2009″. Around 60% of travel managers expect a rise in costs, above all in the particularly cost-intensive areas of flight and overnight stays. Only one in fifteen thinks that a dip in costs is likely. Travel managers are more optimistic when it comes to costs of things like rental cars, train trips and the area of business meetings and communication, however. Around a third of those surveyed expected a rise in these prices. Half of them assume that prices will remain flat.

These figures are the result of a survey of 1,500 travel managers in the USA, Mexico and Brazil, South Africa as well as China, Singapore and Australia about expected travel costs as part of the latest AirPlus International Travel Management Study.

There are large regional differences when it comes to the expected rise in costs: between 70% and 80% of companies in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa assume that business trip expenses will rise. For European companies it is only 40%.