Corporate travel bookings and spending are “on the upswing”, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) following its latest poll of members.
A GBTA poll of more than 600 travel buyers and suppliers in January found 60% of European-based respondents reported international bookings had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and spending on international business travel to 61%.
That was ahead of the 50% who reported a recovery in international bookings in North America, although the domestic recovery in North America was ahead of Europe at 68% to 63%.
The poll found three out of four travel managers (78%) expect their company to make more business trips in 2023 than 2022, and 22% “a lot more”. Only 15% expected the same levels of travel as last year.
Travel suppliers expected increased travel spending by corporate customers, with almost nine in ten (86%) forecasting higher spending in 2023 and 26% “much higher”. Just 9% expected spending at about the same level as 2022.
More than half of travel buyers (54%) globally estimated international bookings have recovered to pre-Covid levels, up from 50% in October.
However, one third (34%) reported pre-trip approval for international trips was “always required” and an additional 20% that it was sometimes required.
Almost half the travel suppliers 47%) reported their company staff numbers were lower than pre-pandemic.
GBTA chief executive Suzanne Neufang said: “The return of business travel will vary across regions, sectors and companies.”
But she noted: “Despite global concerns of a recession, a majority of corporate travel managers indicate their companies are anticipating more business travel than last year.”
The GBTA poll was conducted on January 16-26 and received 637 member responses.