Brit travel abroad plunged: blame the business travelers

The homes in Britain must be incredibly cozy – because nobody left them. Travel from the UK fell to its lowest levels since the 1970s, thanks to the hangover from the September 2008 financial crisis. The number of people crossing a border dropped 15 percent year-over-year, with only 58.6 million visits abroad taking place.

As usual, the business traveler is stuck with the blame for this. Cell phone-toting, laptop-wielding road warriors in the UK allowed travel to plummet almost 25 percent from 2008 to 2009. Now, it’s not just that travel budgets got a little tighter. You also need to keep in mind that hefty layoffs thinned the herd of potential business travelers.

[photo by Dimitry B via Flickr]