<P> According to Zagat's 2009 U.S. Hotels, Resorts & Spas survey, business travel has decreased in the past year as a result of the recession . 30% of travelers surveyed stated they travel less for business today while only 21% of travelers stated that they travel more . Reasons for the decline in business travel include company travel policy changes, personal economics, economic uncertainty and high airline prices . Hotels are responding to the downturn by dropping rates, ramping up promotions and negotiating deals for both business travelers and tourists . </P> <P> According to the World Tourism Organization, international travel suffered a strong slowdown beginning in June 2008, and this declining trend intensified during 2009 resulting in a reduction from 922 million international tourist arrivals in 2008 to 880 million visitors in 2009, representing a worldwide decline of 4%, and an estimated 6% decline in international tourism receipts . The decline caused by the recession was further exacerbated in some countries due to the outbreak of the AH1N1 virus . </P> <P> A February 2009 study on the main British insurers showed that most of them do not plan to raise their insurance premiums for the year 2009, in spite of the prediction of a 20% raise made by The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mirror . However, it is expected that the capital liquidity will become an issue and determine increases, having their capital tied up in investments yielding smaller dividends, corroborated with the £ 644 million underwriting losses suffered in 2007 . </P> <P> New York Times reported that the U.S. Treasury Department found a sizeable decrease in small - business lending by the 22 largest bank recipients of federal bailout money . The banks reduced their small - business lending by US $12.5 billion, a decline of 4.6 percent during a seven - month period ended in November 2009 . During that time, the two biggest small - business lenders, Wells Fargo and Bank of America reduced their lending to small - business by 4.4 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively . Bank of America explained that about half of the decline was attributable to decrease demand, and a decline in sales and creditworthiness among small businesses furthered the drop . </P>

Effects of global recession in the united states