Global business tourism spending was estimated to reach approximately 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, which represents a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Business travel is a branch of the tourism industry focusing on trips made for work-related purposes. Attending congresses, meetings, and trade fairs, for instance, are among the main activities related to this market. How did the COVID-19 pandemic hit domestic and international business trips? After the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, companies worldwide had to revisit their trip plans, as different restrictions adopted across the world disrupted global travel. According to a study by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the share of companies canceling most or all domestic business trips worldwide reached 38 percent as of October 2021. Meanwhile, almost eight in ten surveyed firms suspended international business travel as of the same month. Which company spent the most on booked air volume in the U.S.? As the pandemic hit the business travel market hard in 2020, it comes as no surprise that the volume of air tickets purchased by companies in the United States experienced a sharp decline due to the health crisis. While Deloitte spent over 583 million U.S. dollars on air travel in 2019, it reported an expenditure of 97 million U.S. dollars in 2020. That year, the company ranked as the second leading air travel spender in the U.S. behind Amazon.

More than half of travel managers surveyed worldwide in mid-2024 reported that managing their relationship with their travel management company. This was the most common task mentioned by the study participants. Developing and executing travel strategies, as well as communicating with travelers, were the following most popular tasks mentioned in that year.

Six out of ten business travel managers surveyed around the world in October 2024 reported seeing an increase in the propensity of employees to attend meetings and conferences in person. However, one third of survey participants also said that they observed a decline in the interest of employees to travelling for business purposes.

According to an early 2024 survey conducted among travel managers worldwide, more than 50 percent of respondents expected to see an increase in the business travel budget of their companies in 2025 when compared to 2024. By contrast, 16 percent of survey participants said that the business travel budget could experience an annual decline in 2025.

The total inbound business travel spending in the United States was close to 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, recovering fully from the COVID-19 pandemic. In comparison to 2020, this figure represents an increase of 217 percent.

The direct spending on business travel by domestic and inbound travelers in the United States grew by more than 15 percent in 2023, after having dropped to only 95 billion U.S. dollars as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Online polls conducted by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has asked professionals of the business travel segment for their opinions on their employees' willingness to travel for business-related purposes since the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2024, six out of ten respondents thought that workers in their companies were very eager to travel for a business purpose. Moreover, more than 90 percent of respondents in total said that they were willing to travel.

China is expected to be the world's leading business travel market in 2024, with an estimated total travel spending of almost *** billion U.S. dollars. The United States ranked second in the list. In that year, the global business travel industry recovered fully after the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Around one-third of travel managers surveyed worldwide in late-2024 said that the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) at their companies for business travel programs was important, but not a priority in that year. Only 14 percent said that they were already using AI for travel management tasks.

According to a global survey conducted in October 2024, meetings of sales or account managers with customers or potential customers were the main reason to travel for work. The second most important reason for a business trip was the internal company meetings, with 20 percent of respondents mentioning it.

According to an October 2024 global study, most business travel managers surveyed did not consider limiting work-related trips in the year ahead because of economic concerns. While 24 percent of the sample believed that restricting business travel was unlikely, 31 percent reported taking a wait-and-see approach but not seriously considering limiting corporate trips.

Satisfying company stakeholders was the biggest challenge faced by business travel managers worldwide, according to a survey conducted in mid-2024. Keeping up with industry changes was the second most common challenge, chosen by half of surveyed business travel managers.

The global business travel market was worth approximately *** billion U.S. dollars in 2020, according to data published by Allied Market Research. This value is expected to grow by *** percent in 2028.

In 2024, the global business travel spending increased by more than 11 percent. In the following years, it is expected that the expenditure of business tourists keeps growing, but not at the same pace. Resuming business travel after COVID-19 The global health crisis significantly affected the business travel industry, as is evident from the significant drop in business travel spending in 2020. Specifically, the predicted loss in business travel spending worldwide due to COVID-19 added up to more than 700 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. While the pandemic is gradually becoming less severe, the impact it had on the travel industry remains. As of February 2022, around one out of ten employees worldwide were still either unwilling or unsure to take business trips. Most expensive cities for business travel Studies have identified the most expensive cities when embarking on travel for business purposes. In 2020, Tokyo was the most expensive city for business travel worldwide based on daily costs. Average costs per day in the capital city of Japan amounted to 652.38 U.S. dollars in that year. Looking at the most expensive cities for business travel worldwide by daily hotel costs, however, Tel Aviv reported the highest daily prices.

LinkedIn was the most newly adopted social media channel by meetings professionals worldwide as of November 2024. At that time, 48 percent of respondents reported starting using that platform.

As of mid-2024, it was estimated that the global business travel spending at the end of that year would amount to nearly *** trillion U.S. dollars. By 2028, this figure is projected to reach over *** trillion dollars.

Italy registered nearly ** million international business travel arrivals in 2019, according to data published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). In that same year, France reported over ** million inbound business traveler arrivals, while the United States' corporate travel tourism volume amounted to ***** million tourist arrivals.

In 2023, the spending of business travel in China was lower than forecasted in August of that year. However, the spending increased significantly compared to the previous year, to around *** billion U.S. dollars. The Chinese corporate travel spending trend was forecasted to continue upwards and exceed *** billion U.S. dollars by 2028.

Domestic business travel spending in the United States reached over *** billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This figure has seen growth since 2020 where it fell to *** billion U.S. dollars as a result of travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Travel spending is forecast to reach almost *** billion U.S. dollars by 2028.

During 2021, there were approximately *** million domestic and inbound business trips in the United States. Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the North American country had recorded more than *** million business trips on its territory. The majority of them were made by domestic travelers.