Business Travel Cutbacks Occurring

Here’s hoping you agree with the sentiment behind the old saying "home sweet home," because it looks like the average small business owner will be seeing a lot of his house.  A report from Global Insight indicates that domestic travel is becoming rather less common.

Statistics like these usually rise from year to year; there are more people on the planet, more dollars being spent, and so on.  But instead, Global Insight reports, "both leisure and business travel are expected to decline in the fourth quarter, falling by 0.3% and 4.6% versus a year ago, respectively."

Embracing this trend might be good for your business.  It should, after all, save all sorts of money (especially since travel costs are rising).

And whether you travel less yourself or not, try to take the pattern into account when dealing with other companies.  Rather than inviting people to visit, you might suggest meeting them halfway.  Or make the invitation, but point out that you’re perfectly comfortable using telephones, fax machines, and email.

At least this trend may give small business owners an excuse to buy a few more nice furnishings for their homes.