Senior business leaders were nearly unanimous with expectations for business travel levels to either remain the same or grow over the next year, according to American Express' recent Amex Trendex business travel survey, which surveyed 502 business travel U.S. company business travel decision makers.
The survey—which was conducted from May 15 through May 23 and included responses from 1,005 U.S. business travelers alongside the decision makers—showed 95 percent of decision-maker respondents expected to maintain or increase business travel over the subsequent 12 months. Even amid economic uncertainty, 92 percent of decision makers and 88 percent of travelers said traveling for in-person meetings is worthwhile.
"In an environment that has been evolving—and obviously spend control and visibility continues to be a priority for corporate buyers—that validation is important," American Express EVP and general manager for global and U.S. large enterprises Fernando Iraola told BTN. "It's certainly encouraging and reaffirms the fact that the value of corporate travel is here to stay, and it's a validation that in-person is back."
Customer relations and client acquisition is "core and central" to business travel resilience, Iraola said. The top reasons given by respondents in the survey for maintaining or increasing business travel were getting the same or more time with clients, cited by 64 percent of respondents, or growing or winning new business, cited by 59 percent.
Companies are seeking to quantify the value of business travel, with 66 percent indicating they tracked sales stemming from business travel to measure return on investment. Sixty percent said they did the same with client feedback.
Iraola added that return-to-office policies are driving business travel growth, but "creating culture" remains a driver as well. "As you're bringing more people onto the workforce, and particularly younger generations, you really want to have that culture creation, and in-person drives that perspective," he said.
The survey indicated 84 percent of business travelers view business travel as a perk, and 80 percent of companies use business travel to attract and retain talent. Younger travelers were more likely to see business travel as a perk, with 88 percent of Gen-Z and Millennial respondents sharing that opinion compared with 78 percent of Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers.
The Trendex report also identified "trending" business travel destinations both in the U.S. and around the world, based on growth of customer airline transactions over a 12-month period between 2023 and 2024. U.S. cities seeing a big increase in business travel include Richmond, Va.; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, S.C.; Boise, Idaho; and New Orleans. Outside of the U.S., cities attracting a growing number of business travelers include Kumamoto, Japan; Cork, Ireland; and Malmö, Sweden.