Business travel bounced back strongly in 2024. Photo / 123rf
Business travel bounced back strongly in 2024. Photo / 123rf
Research by the Global Business Travel Association has found more than two-thirds of those in the sector are optimistic about 2025.
The survey also found that 86% of business travel buyers and travel suppliers said that business travel performed on par or better than they expected in2024. Some 67% of professionals stated their general outlook is optimistic for the industry’s future, the results suggest a strong desire for business travel expansion in 2025.
In this country, weak corporate travel had impacted Air New Zealand’s earnings but in an update in late November, the airline said there were signs of a recovery (although Government travel remains subdued).
“GBTA’s findings illustrate an industry at a pivotal point. Business travel is more than rebounding, it’s transforming − driven by the need to manage costs and risk, ensure strong traveller productivity and experience, and drive responsible growth,‘’ said the association’s chief executive Suzanne Neufang.
Industry leaders were looking to harness new technology, trip trends and sustainable practices to enable business travel. The survey of almost 900 business travel professionals worldwide, found that 93% of travel buyers and 79% of travel suppliers believe the sector has met or exceeded their expectations, despite variable economic and operational conditions. Into the new year two-thirds (67%) report an optimistic outlook. Only 6% are pessimistic.
North America and Latin America lead this optimistic sentiment, at 71% and 72%, respectively.
Buyers, in particular, report more confidence than suppliers, with 71% of buyers expressing optimism for 2025, compared with 62% for suppliers. While travel programmes are keeping an eye on the economy, few plan to limit business travel in 2025.
Industry leaders were looking to harness new technology, trip trends and sustainable practices to enable business travel. Photo / 123rf
Only 17% are limiting business travel because of economic concerns. A rising share of buyers (52%, up from 44% in 2023) predict an increase in their corporate travel budgets, to support customer-facing meetings, sales initiatives, conferences, and internal meetings.
Asked to select up to threetop factors driving their optimism for the year ahead, business travel buyers and suppliers most commonly say easing travel costs/corporate budgets keeping pace (46%), improving economy/inflation reduction (44%), and increased traveler confidence/more requests for travel (40%). The survey also reflects ongoing shifts in traveler preferences. The trend of“blended travel” − combining work trips with leisure purposes − continues to be on the rise, with almost half of buyers (46%) saying employees at their company are taking more “bleisure” trips today than they did a year ago.
In-person meetingscontinue to bounce back.Three in five buyers (59%) say their company’s employees are attending more in-person meetings and conferences now than they did a year ago. “Linked” business trips that combine multiple meetings and/or stops in a single trip continue to increase. Over half of buyers (53%) say their company’s employees are taking more linked trips than they did a year ago. The association says that among challenges ahead cost control remains paramount, cited by three-quarters of travel buyers (78%) as one of the most important strategic priorities for their programme next year, alongside traveller safety (65%) and return on investment of travel (49%). The GBTA says sustainability remains a “complex but critical focus.” For 2024, 46% of travel professionals say sustainability was a high priority, with 44% alreadyintegrating sustainability initiatives into their programmes.
However, travel buyers say obstacles remain, as 75% cite higher costs as a barrier, along with concerns about complexity (not knowing where to begin), ambiguous emissions measurement standards, and traveller inconvenience. Travel buyers also saw gains in employees makingmore sustainable travel choices, with one-third reporting a year-over-year increase in rail/train travel (38%) and multimodal trips (33%).
Europe leads all regions in these metrics, showing that the availability of practical rail options is a table stake in enabling a further rise in traveler sustainable selections going forward. With digital transformation as a priority, nearly half (49%) of travel programmes plan to ramp upinvestments in technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining traction as a core component of strategic operational enhancement within the industry.
The poll finds only 14% of buyers currently use AI in their travel programmes, but this marks an 8-point increase from the previous year. A total of 890 responses were received by GBTA from global travel buyers, suppliers and other industry professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa and Middle East for the poll in October.
Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
