mumbai the collapse of lehman brothers and the sellout of merrill lynch in the united states have had their impact on corporate travel from india to the west travel experts say most it companies as well as other business houses who account for frequent executive trips to the us or europe have curtailed these trips with the onset of what is being seen as the souring of the american dreamthings are not too bright as far as business travel is concerned the growth rate of this section to the us and even europe has slowed down since the us economy starting showing signs of crumbling it got a bigger jolt after the fall of lehman brothers travel agents federation of india national general secretary ajay prakash said the scene has worsened because of the rise in fuel price and we can expect a further drop if things continue like this he addeda big chunk of the us corporate travel sector comprises h1b visaholders from it companies but in the wake of the economic crisis most it companies are in a nonrecruitment phase and this has led to the ebb in passenger flow over 60 per cent of the it business in india comes from the us the corporate travel scene looks even more dismal when you consider the fact that outbound air passenger traffic from the country has increased by around 14 per centbusiness travel comprises 45 per cent of indias total air travel to the us and 40 per cent to european countries this sector has seen a growth of between 14 per cent and 18 per cent annually but in the wake of the crisis the rate of growth is expected to come down to around 6 per cent the slowdown in the travel is likely to continue till at least next february avesta travels and tours pvt ltd managing director marzban antia said most travel industry insiders feel the slump is likely to stay we cant expect the outbound passenger traffic to improve all of a sudden one of them saidchinmayishalyatimesgroupcom