Low levels of growth and "subdued" consumer confidence will continue to affect the UK's travel sector next year, according to the annual Barclays Corporate Travel Forum Survey.

However, the poll of 110 senior industry executives showed that operators expect government spending cuts to have little impact going into 2012 and 2013, with trading conditions expected to improve.

While less than half of the survey's participants (43 per cent) said business conditions would improve during 2011, nearly three quarters expect to see an upturn in 2012 and 85 per cent in 2013.

Barclays Corporate head of travel Chris Lee said: "Travel companies are now demonstrating a growing confidence in their long term prospects, which stems in part from a general resilience in the travel industry throughout the recession.

"While there was certainly no consensus on what the industry would look like in a few years time among operators at the Barclays Corporate Travel Forum, there was little doubt that this resilience would result in a continued trend of fewer failures in the industry than expected during and post the recession."