Business Travel Costs Take Off

Airfares paid by business travelers are headed toward their highest levels ever, and so are the costs of staying in hotels and eating in restaurants, according to projections for 1997 made by Corporate Travel magazine.

The trade magazine’s annual Corporate Travel Index, which measures costs in 100 U.S. cities, estimates that travelers in 1997 will spend an average of $204.61 a day for a hotel room, three meals and a rental car.

Hotel costs are expected to be up the most this year, 13.3 percent over 1996, to $97.33 a day. Eating three meals a day on the road will average $59.40, up 5.3 percent from last year.

The one bright spot: car-rental rates are expected to drop 5.9 percent from 1996, to a daily average of $47.88.