The price of cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages are forecast to rise in 2012 as a result of increased demand and a reduced number of available airplane seats, according to the American Express Global Business Travel Forecast.
The good news is that airline tickets are not expected to increase as much as they did between 2010 and 2011. Business class airfares look to increase the most next year.
Economy seat prices on shorter North American flights will rise between 2 to 5 percent vs. longer economy flight prices expected to increase between 0.5 to 3.5 percent. Business class prices are forecast to increase between 5 to 7 percent on shorter trips and between 3 to 5 percent for longer ones.
Hotel prices are expected to increase in the low single digits next year, similar to what has happened in 2011.
Experts anticipate car rental rates in North America to be flat as a result of competition and the high number of excess cars in the total car rental market.
The 2012 Global Forecast is built on several different data sources including from the American Express Business Travel Monitor, the American Express contracted rates database, transaction reports, and other data sources such as Smith Travel Research Global Hotel Reviews and Global Business Travel Association research on travel spending. www.cheapfares.com