If your business traveling employees came to you with a bill for $611 per day for each day they were away, you’d probably tell them to go fly a kite. But such daily expenses would be right on target if they had been on a business trip in ....
Caracas, Venezuela. That's right, Venezuela’s capital ranks as the most expensive city for corporate travel, according to a report from Expert Market, far outranking the typical domestic or international trip. Domestic trips to US cities cost the average traveler $990 in 2014, with international trips weighing in at $2,525.
But Expert Market dug deeper than the average, reviewing the daily cost of travel throughout 79 different cities across the globe. The top 10 list consists of:
- Caracas, Venezuela, at $611 per day
- Geneva, Switzerland, at $547 per day
- Stockholm, Sweden, at $528 per day
- Stavanger, Norway, at $524 per day
- Hong Kong, China, at $523 per day
- Zurich, Switzerland, at $509 per day
- London, England, at $508 per day
- Paris, France, at $502 per day
- Oslo, Norway, at $497 per day
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at $495 per day
THE HIGH COST OF BUSINESS TRAVEL
The top eight locations, which cost the traveler upwards of $500 per day, are well-known for their elite hotels and high-end restaurants. And they blow even the sophisticated options in the US right out of the water.
In fact, none of the US cities made it into the top 20. The most expensive US business travel destination was San Francisco, ranking 23rd at $444 per day. New York ranked right behind it, with a daily cost of $442. The cheapest city on the business travel list was Guatemala City, costing a daily average of $209.
Even though no US cities made it to the top of the list for costs, the US is known for spending more on business travel than any other nation across the globe. US-based companies shelled out $274 billion for business travel in 2013, with predictions for 2015 pegging the cost at $310 billion.
THE HIGH COST OF CARACAS TRAVEL
The poor state of Venezuela’s economy has a heavy impact on the cost of travel. Venezuela relies on oil for 95 percent of its earnings from exports, and oil’s low prices have been driving up inflation. Other factors include the cost of staying in a high-security hotel and the high cost of practically everything, from a $5.14 liter of milk to a $25.50 meal at McDonald’s.
Expense report software is a modern way to log all travel and entertainment related expenses. Ensure your own employees’ travel spending is under control with business travel expense analytics from Chrome River EXPENSE.
Search
Subscribe
Latest Posts
Posts by Category
Our choice of Chrome River EXPENSE was made in part due to the very user-friendly interface, easy configurability, and the clear commitment to impactful customer service – all aspects in which Chrome River was the clear winner. While Chrome River is not as large as some of the other vendors we considered, we found that to be a benefit and our due diligence showed that it could support us as well as any large players in the space, along with a personalized level of customer care.
We are excited to be able to enforce much more stringent compliance to our expense guidelines and significantly enhance our expense reporting and analytics. By automating these processes, we will be able to free up AP time formerly spent on manual administrative tasks, and enhance the role by being much more strategic.