SMEs still set to travel

Employees of small and medium-sized businesses are set to travel as part of their job at least as much in 2009 as they have been this year, new research has found.

According to online resource TravelMole, the Star Alliance poll revealed that 52 per cent said they would be commuting just as frequently over the next 12 months, with 34 per cent claiming they will be flying more than they did in 2008.

In addition, 60 per cent of the companies surveyed had a travel policy in place and 30 per cent admitted they were looking for the best value airlines to offer them the right fare in the class of travel they required.

Business travellers may be interested to hear that they can book cheap flights from Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Blackpool, Leeds Bradford and Newcastle to a variety of international destinations with Jet2.com.

Jo Ashman, spokesperson for Star Alliance Company Plus, said: "We are seeing that corporate clients are taking comfort in working with established and secure network airlines as their travel partners."

Meanwhile, STR Global has claimed that hotels are dropping their room rates to attract more business travellers and holidaymakers.

Book cheap flights from Manchester online from Jet2.com, the low cost airline.