The long road to recovery in the business travel sector just got shorter. There have been some encouraging signs that business travel is rebounding to pre-Covid spending levels sooner than anticipated, according to the Global Business Travel Association . Business travel was essentially shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many predicting a slow slog to revive sales and a landscape that would be permanently changed. Now the organization is predicting global business travel spending will surpass its 2019 spending level of $1.4 trillion in 2024, compared to its earlier forecast of 2026. Spending is expected to grow to $1.8 trillion in 2027. The GBTA is crediting the resilience of the global economy as a key factor in the rebound. On top of that, corporate decision-makers are more optimistic about business trips than workers, which is a positive sign since they determine policy, a recent Morning Consult survey found. Some 28% of those who make the business travel decisions and 32% of those in charge of company travel budgets said their workplace will increase business travel in the coming year, Morning Consult found. That’s compared to 15% of all employed adults who said the same. After prior polls of workers pointed to a long recovery, the firm created a demographic of business travel decision-makers, including those who are responsible for budgets, for its latest survey. They were among the 2,435 employed U.S. adults polled Aug. 12-13, 2023. Lindsey Roeschke, travel and hospitality analyst at Morning Consult, said she was surprised by the results.
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