Comprehensive Insights Into Business Travel Trends

Forbes

18-07-2025

Egor Karpovich, CEO of Travel Code. We are a corporate travel management platform that helps businesses save on every trip.
We are in the middle of a business travel revolution. And with the rapid rate of change in this space, sticking with decades-old business travel programs is no longer sufficient.
Companies need to evolve with the times, and part of that is keeping up with the trends. Below, we'll take a look at some of the biggest developments for business travelers over the last year.
A Focus On Employee Well-Being
There has been a significant shift in recent years toward a focus on overall employee wellness. This might have already been happening ahead of the pandemic, but that event certainly put the movement into overdrive.
These days, more people work from home than ever before. The comfort of working at home has led people to expect more comfort in all areas of their employment, including travel. Asking an employee to head out onto the road when they are used to working in their own house is a big request, and they'll expect to be accommodated nicely along the way.
Business travelers now expect to have plenty of flexibility in their trips, along with comfortable accommodations and personal time to explore the area they are visiting. If your employees are going to make the most of these trips and if they will be willing to accept future assignments for other trips, you'll need to make sure they are properly cared for along the way on these voyages.
Corporate Travel Making A Big Comeback
It would be an understatement to say that corporate travel was impacted by the pandemic. For the most part, business travel shut down completely during that period. Even as the years passed and restrictions eased, many companies were hesitant to put people back out on the road for a variety of reasons.
That is changing. Around the world, business travel expenditure is quickly climbing once again. In fact, it is approaching the levels that were seen before the pandemic, and might even exceed those levels in the years ahead. To be sure, business travel is back in a big way, and the many benefits that it offers are being rediscovered by companies large and small.
One of those benefits is the importance of meeting in person with customers and clients to drive company growth. There is something that is lost when only Zoom calls are used to make a connection. The power of meeting people in person remains just as important in the digital age as it has been throughout human history.
Leaning Into Customized Experiences
Many corporations have operated for years using a one-size-fits-all travel policy. When an employee needed to travel, they had to follow the prescribed process, and that was the end of it. There was no room for discussion, negotiation or flexibility.
This is another area where a big shift in corporate travel trends is being seen. More often than ever before, businesses are willing to adapt their travel policies to the needs and preferences of the individual traveler.
This goes back to the first point about placing an emphasis on employee well-being. By providing more choices and being open to personalized itineraries, companies make the travel experience more appealing. And, in some cases, this flexibility can actually lead to more affordable trips, meaning the business can come out ahead, as well.
Integrating Broader Consumer Trends
There is less of a distinction between personal and professional travel now than we have ever seen in history. More and more, people expect their large or small business travel experience to closely mirror the experience they have when hitting the road for personal adventures.
This means they want to have access to things like easy, user-friendly business travel booking sites. They don't want to work through a complicated, murky corporate booking process just to reserve a hotel or book a flight. It should be just as easy to schedule a business trip as it is to schedule a personal trip.
For some companies, this means that change is necessary from previous booking programs. There are plenty of high-tech platforms available to accommodate today's business travelers, but making a shift to those options might be resisted at first. But I believe that once a business sees what can be gained by giving its people the flexibility and convenience they desire, there is no looking back.
The Importance Of Sustainability
One thing that the pandemic helped businesses realize was the significant environmental impact of their travel practices. With no choice but to pause traveling, companies could plainly see how a reduction in travel could directly benefit the planet.
That doesn't mean those same companies won't go back to using travel as a regular part of their operations. We've already seen how they are embracing travel again, and the business world is back on the road just like before. But there is a middle ground where travel can come back, yet companies can think more now about the environment than they did before.
This focus on sustainability will likely be seen in relatively small, subtle ways. For example, a business might choose to cut down on flights by grouping client visits into one trip rather than going back and forth to the same area. Or, they could cut back on how many people are sent to a specific client or project, reducing costs and environmental impact at the same time.
Managing corporate and business travel doesn't need to be a vexing problem or an ongoing headache. As long as you keep up with the trends occurring in this space to make sure your employees are comfortable and happy on their travels, this part of your business can continue to drive great value for years to come.
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