American Express, which released its quarterly report on Friday, sees signs of an increased pace of recovery for business travel.
Although the recovery in business travel was interrupted by the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus at the beginning of the year, corporate travel and leisure spending increased by 156 percent in the first quarter, compared to the same period last year, according to American Express.
In March of this year, American Express customers among large companies, which are included in the S&P 500 stock market index, spent "well over" 50 percent of the level in the corresponding month of 2019 on travel, the credit card company's CFO Jeff Campbell told the Financial Times.
And according to the company, this means that the recovery is so far going faster than previously expected. As recently as last year, the credit card giant estimated that it would take many years for business travel to recover.
”People want to get out, not just with their own colleagues, but also to meet customers,” said Stephen Squeri, CEO of American Express at an analyst conference, according to the FT.
However, the recovery is much faster among ordinary consumers in the US. Amex customers spent 120 percent more on travel in the first quarter of this year compared to the same quarter in 2019.
Total consumption among the credit card company's customers increased by 30 percent during the first quarter and American Express's revenue rose 29 percent to $11.7 billion, equivalent to approximately SEK 112 billion, which was higher than analysts had expected.
The credit card company maintains its positive view of the long-term development and expects a greater contribution from business travel as consumers begin to hold on to their wallets a little tighter and downplay the risk of a recession.
American Express shares are down between 1-2 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, which is falling broadly on Friday.
