A rosy outlook for business travel in 2024

With only 1 in 10 (14%) buyers reporting they are currently implementing a plan to limit business travel because of economic concerns, business travel trends gleaned from the latest GBTA Business Travel Outlook Poll reveal that business travel has rebounded.

There will be an emphasis around the following:

· Travel cost management strategies

· Sustainability

· The transformation of retailing models

· The integration of emerging technologies

865 global business travel buyers, suppliers, and other industry stakeholders from 46 countries across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific responded to the poll from 11-19 October 2023.

“As our latest GBTA poll outlines, ongoing challenges are expected, but there are optimistic indicators for an even stronger year ahead as organisations continue to leverage business travel and face-to-face connections as a critical part of their strategy to achieve important and ambitious objectives,” said Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA.

Key statistics

· Most industry stakeholders surveyed (84%) report their company’s business travel in 2023 has either largely (43%) or mostly (41%) recovered when compared to their 2019 levels.

· Domestic business travel bookings stand at 76% (up from 72% in the April 2023 GBTA poll).

· On the international front, bookings reached 70% of their 2019 levels (up from 63% in April).

· Domestic business travel spending has reached 77% of pre-pandemic levels, while international spend sits at 74% (up from 74% and 66%, respectively, from April).

Challenges and barriers

· The top barriers that affected their business travel in 2023 have included corporate budgets keeping up with price increases (69%), inflation/recession concerns (63%), and geo-political events (44%). Suppliers (67%) are more likely than buyers (59%) to say inflation/recession concerns are a significant barrier.

· On an aggregated basis, fewer stakeholders cite as top barriers workforce hiring/retention (28%), climate impact concerns (22%), travel confidence/willingness to travel (15%) and pandemic concerns (6%).

· Buyers (44%) are more likely than suppliers (32%) to say travel disruption is a significant barrier. However, respondents overall say travel disruptions have had a slight to moderate impact on their employees' willingness to travel for business, with only 11% of non-executive employees and 10% of executive employees reporting being greatly affected.

· On a regional basis, stakeholders in Europe (54%) are more likely than in Asia-Pacific (23%), Latin America (23%) and North America (12%) to report climate impact concerns as a barrier.

Working styles

· For 2023, more meetings of all types have been the norm. Travel buyers report increases in their employees attending in-person meetings and conferences (55%), holding virtual meetings (52%), blending travel (50%) and “linking” (multi-purpose or multi-destination) business trips (49%) compared with 2022.

· Hybrid work environments are dominant in the business travel sector, with 68% of stakeholders saying it is the current setup in their company. This has not changed from a year ago.

Investment priorities

· For 2024, 67% of travel buyers expect their travel budgets to increase (39%) or remain about the same (28%).

· Cost management stands out as a top strategic priority, with 62% of respondents emphasizing its importance for their company’s business travel program. Traveler safety (44%) and sustainability (37%) followed closely.

· A significant portion (63%) of those surveyed plan to ramp up their investment in technology and digitalisation.

· Other areas of 2024 investment include sustainability initiatives (45%) and partnerships and alliances (40%).

· When asked about their expenses for travel programme management (which includes salaries and travel management company fees) 48% of respondents say their company’s 2024 budget will increase significantly or moderately year over year.

Feedback on AI

· The potential impact of AI on the industry in the next year remains split. About a third (32%) of all stakeholders are excited about AI, while another third (33%) feel it is too early to predict its full impact.

· Some travel buyers in the year ahead view implementing AI applications/tools in their corporate travel program as important (34%), but others say it is a low or non-priority (37%) in 2024.

· Two in five (42%) of all respondents say they have never used ChatGPT or another generative AI tool for work, while a third (33%) say they have only used it rarely.