Getting Back To Normal

Americans are planning more and more business trips, a sign that the country's post-Sept. 11 skittishness about travel may have abated. Polling firm

Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown/Yankelovich Partners found in its 2002 National Travel Monitor survey that more than 40 percent of business travelers plan to take more business trips in the coming year, while only 20 percent expect to travel less.

The economy is a major factor for those who plan fewer trips. Twenty-two percent of business travelers cited company restrictions on travel "because of concerns about the economy," and 15 percent of respondents said "current economic conditions make it difficult to travel." Fewer than 1 percent said it was unsafe to fly.

At the same time, 32 percent of the travelers said security procedures at airports were "a big hassle," and 18 percent said they weren't flying as much as a result.

According to Dennis Marzella, the polling firm's senior vice president, business travel declined by about 5 percent last year but analysts expect "a return to normal levels of travel" this year. "The biggest obstacle for the travel industry is the economy, not so much safety. To the extent that the economy gets back to normal, so will travel," he says.

Fifty-five percent of business travelers surveyed used the Internet to get travel information, mostly about airfares and hotel and rental car rates, while 33 percent made travel arrangements online. The survey results come from a poll of more than 1,200 business travelers in the first quarter of this year.

For more information on the survey, go to www.ypb.com.