Hurricane Sandy Could Cause Up To $600 Million In Lost Business Travel

Before Hurricane Sandy came ashore, analysts were already forecasting the cost of the "Frankenstorm." The Global Business Travel Association estimated the storm would cause up to $600 million in lost business travel.

With 12,000 flights already canceled, according to the Wall Street Journal, the storm is costing the East Coast states affected by Sandy as much as $50 million per day as a result of business travelers canceling plans.

Canceled flights, hotel bookings, and business lunches and dinners are just some of the financial impact that the powerful super storm has caused. The New York Stock Exchange is closed for a second day Tuesday and the cost of as many as 514,000 interrupted business trips is resulting in a GDP loss of at least $675 million and loss of federal, state, and local taxes of $176 million.

The Global Business Travel Association recently quantified the impact of major weather events on business travel by using its Business Travel Quarterly methodology to determine how a theoretical Category-3 hurricane on the East Coast would impact the business travel industry. When Hurricane Sandy made landfall Monday, it was a Category 1 storm, but its massive size and slow movement mean original estimated losses could rise.

Lauren Mack is the Travel Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @lmack.