Business Travelers Expect Business Trips to Increase

Bigger travel budgets, a better economy and the perception that travel supports customer relationships will drive business travel in the next 12 months, according to a survey of business travelers conducted by marketing firm MMGY Global.

In June, MMGY Global surveyed 355 Millennials, 306 Generation Xers, 316 Baby Boomers and 30 "Matures"—totaling 1,007 U.S. residents—who took at least one domestic or international business trip in the past 12 months.

The most common reason business travel will increase, as noted by half the respondents, owed to their companies' perception that travel is important to grow and maintain customer relationships. Forty-four percent said their companies were doing better financially and had increased their travel budgets.

Travelers took an average of 6.8 business trips in the past 12 months and expected that to increase to 7.4 in the next 12 months. Millennials, those between ages 18 and 36, took more trips than the average business traveler, and they expect to take even more, 8.6 trips, in the next 12 months.

Eighty-nine percent of Baby Boomers traveled domestically, compared with 78 percent of Gen Xers and 63 percent of Millennials. The relationship reversed for international trips, as 37 percent of Millennials traveled internationally in the past 12 months, compared with 22 percent of Gen Xers and 11 percent of Baby Boomers.

The Traveler Compromise

Forty-two percent of all business travelers wished they could take more trips, and 9 percent wanted to take fewer trips. Of Millennial travelers, 61 percent wanted to travel more, compared with 40 percent of Gen Xers and 26 percent of Baby Boomers.

However, more Millennials, 61 percent, agreed that business travel negatively impacts family life. Only 40 percent of Gen Xers and 26 percent of Boomers think so. "This could be because Millennials are more likely to have young children at home and worry about missing opportunities to spend time with them," according to the report. "Despite that concern, Millennials still want to travel more, likely because they believe business travel positively impacts their job satisfaction and may help advance their career."

The opportunity to extend a business trip into a leisure trip may be another reason Millennials want more trips, as 77 percent of travelers in that age group will extend a business trip for leisure in the next 12 months. Only 58 percent of Gen Xers and 43 percent of Baby Boomers will do so.