Most CEOs plan to increase their travel budgets this year, as the C-suite sees business travel as valuable not only for revenue generation but for employee morale, according to a TravelPerk-commissioned report published on Thursday.
The Value of Business Travel Report—which included 2,000 company decision-makers outside TravelPerk's customer base, 540 of whom were C-suite leaders, along with 4,600 business travelers and 625 travel managers and admins within the TravelPerk customer base—showed that 62 percent of CEOs expect a year-over-year increase of their travel budgets.
U.S. companies were the most bullish in the survey, with 61 percent of companies planning to increase budgets. Less than half of European companies said the same, however, including 39 percent of companies in Germany, 46 percent of companies in the U.K. and 48 percent of companies in Spain.
Surveys for the report were conducted April 10-17.
Expansion into new markets was the top reason for increased budgets, cited by 47 percent of companies, according to the report. Other top reasons include more attendance of conference and events (45 percent) and a larger headcount (39 percent).
For those companies that expect to reduce budgets this year—about a third of companies in the survey—increased travel prices was the top driver, cited by 35 percent of respondents. Other key reasons included company cost-cutting measures (30 percent) and environmental sustainability (27 percent).
The survey also showed an appreciation of business travel for return on investment both on the financial and human impact sides. C-suite leaders in the survey attributed on average about a third of their companies' 2023 sales growth to in-person meetings, and 95 percent of the leaders said their company would lose customers without in-person meetings—a loss of about 27 percent of their customer base, on average.
Additionally, 82 percent of U.S. CEOs and 65 percent of European CEOs in the survey said business travel helps with employee retention, and 75 percent of HR decision-makers in the survey said adding business travel opportunities in job descriptions made them more attractive to applicants. Among travelers, 63 percent said traveling for work makes them more likely to stay with their current employer, and that increased to 76 percent among the subset of Generation Z employees.
The report indicated that companies that increased their travel budget in 2023 had an employee turnover rate of 8.6 percent, which is below the Gallup average of 10 percent and 3.5 points lower than companies that reduced their budgets.
"In today's fiercely competitive landscape, companies recognize the immense value that business travel delivers," TravelPerk CEO and co-founder Avi Meir said in a statement. "From the boost in employee engagement and revenue generated from in-person meetings, to conducting work that can only happen by being there, business travel is far more than just a cost center—it's an investment in growth, innovation, and company culture."