Higher rates of business growth at small and midsized companies corresponded with higher rates of business travel—and not necessarily customer-facing travel, according to a report published on Monday by American Express Global Business Travel and U.K. market research firm Ipsos.
For the report, Ipsos surveyed 800 U.S. and U.K. business leaders at SMEs, defined in the report as businesses with 10 to 250 employees in the U.K. and 20 to 500 employees in the United States. Those companies that had at least 5 percent year-over-year growth in revenue or turnover in 2024 and projected the same for this year were identified as "growth leaders." In the U.S., that represented 41 percent of respondents, and in the U.K., 36 percent of respondents were growth leaders.
Among those growth leaders, 66 percent said they had sent employees on an international business trip within the past year, prior to the survey's interview window of Jan. 22 through 27. Among the "follower" companies with lower growth rates, only 52 percent said they had sent employees on international business trips within the past year.
However, the faster-growing companies had lower rates of travel for client project work and client relationship-building than their slower-growing counterparts, according to the report. About half of the follower respondents listed those as reasons for business travel in the past year, compared with 42 percent of growth leader respondents.
The growth leader companies outpaced the follower companies in all other types of business travel. Conferences, trade shows and exhibitions were the most frequently cited reasons for business travel in both groups, with 58 percent of growth leader and 51 percent of follower respondents listing it as a reason for business travel over the past year. The biggest spread for the two groups was in travel for training, learning and development, with 55 percent of growth leaders listing it as a reason for business travel compared with 45 percent of followers.
Other reasons for travel in which growth leader companies outpaced follower companies included leadership meetings and presentations, sales meetings, on-site visits and both on-site and off-site team meetings.
"[Growth leader firms] are ahead of followers when it comes to opportunities for staff development and engagement, such as training and team meetings," according to the report. "This suggests travel performs a different function: not just a way to service clients, but as a wider generator of company culture by bringing the workforce together."
The report identified several other areas in which growth leader companies differed from follower companies, including a higher rate of introducing new products and services, a higher rate of exporting and a higher rate of seeking external specialist advice, particularly in the topics of AI and automation, travel management, data security, trade and market insights.