Business travel industry confidence has reached its highest level of 2026, recovering from the uncertainty that weighed down expectations earlier this year amid the conflict in the Middle East and rising jet fuel prices, according to a Global Business Travel Association poll of 604 industry professionals.
In the survey, conducted from Aug. 27 through Sept. 9, 63 percent of respondents—comprising buyers and suppliers—said they were optimistic about the next 12 months, a 22-point rebound from GBTA's April poll and the strongest 12-month outlook since October 2024. Some 30 percent of respondents had a neutral outlook, while 7 percent were pessimistic, down from 24 percent in April.
However, not all global regions shared an equally rosy outlook. In Europe, only 55 percent of respondents were optimistic, while 11 percent were pessimistic. It's a significant improvement from April, when only 21 percent were optimistic and 38 percent were pessimistic, though Europe's optimism still trails that of North America (61 percent), Asia-Pacific (71 percent) and Latin America (76 percent).
Of the approximately 300 buyers surveyed, 45 percent anticipated the number of business trips at their organizations to be higher in 2026 than in 2025, up from 30 percent in April. Nearly 40 percent of buyers said they expect their 2026 business travel volume to hold steady compared with 2025, and 16 percent anticipate fewer business trips this year.
More than half (56 percent) of buyers expect travel spend to increase in 2026 compared with last year—up from 43 percent in April—while 28 percent expect spending to stay the same and 14 percent expect it to decrease.
Nearly one-third of buyers estimated the number of meetings requiring business travel at their organizations will increase in 2026, while 49 percent expected no change and 14 percent expected a decrease.
Supplier and travel management company expectations also improved since April, with 48 percent of those respondents anticipating a year-over-year increase in business travel-related revenue, up from 35 percent earlier this year. Only 14 percent of suppliers expected lower revenue in 2026.
Rising travel costs were the most influential factor in travel planning for buyers, cited by 69 percent of buyer respondents, followed by geopolitical uncertainty at 45 percent. Among suppliers, geopolitical uncertainty ranked as the top business impact, cited by 60 percent, followed by rising operating costs at 44 percent and customer pricing pressure at 42 percent.