The U.S. recession presents a strong headwind to the travel industry, especially for business travel, which is declining more rapidly than leisure, the chief executives of two online travel agencies said on Monday.

“There’s been a more rapid downturn in business travel than leisure travel,” said Boyd, Priceline.com Chief Executive.

Boyd linked the decline in business travel, in part, to efforts by executives to avoid criticism that they are wasting company money on unnecessary travel. He said complaints by politicians about expensive corporate travel is putting additional and unfair pressure on the struggling industry.

Boyd said that while no one is pleased with the current state of the economy, the downturn gives travel agencies a chance to court bargain-hungry travelers with cheap bookings and creative travel package deals.

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