Business Travel in 2026: Less “As Much as Possible,” More “As Best as Possible”
Business travel enters 2026 with a clear shift in decision-making logic: the goal is no longer to return to old flight and overnight stay volumes, but to prove the value of every field trip. After several years of recovery and adaptation to hybrid work, an increasing number of companies are traveling again – but selectively, with stricter cost control, expectation of measurable results, and a greater emphasis on the safety and well-being of employees on the road.
In practice, this means that "just in case" travel is becoming rarer, and more often only where a concrete return on investment can be shown: a signed contract, a completed project, a decisive meeting with a client, a key conference, or training that is not replaceable by an online format. At the same time, technological platforms for booking and travel management are rapidly introducing artificial intelligence, while younger generations – especially Gen Z – are changing expectations regarding the travel experience, flexibility, and employer support.
Numbers are growing, but growth is not “automatic”
The latest industry projections suggest that global spending on business travel is still on an upward trajectory, but with a noticeable dose of caution. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) in its report and five-year forecast for the period 2025–2029 states that global spending could reach approximately 1.69 trillion US dollars in 2026, following around 1.57 trillion in 2025, with highlighted “headwinds” such as geopolitical risks, pressure on costs, and uneven recovery across markets. In certain regions and industries, recovery is faster, while elsewhere budget constraints and caution in planning still exist.
Behind these aggregate numbers lies an important change: companies that travel – travel differently. Trips are more often shorter, planned earlier, and approvals are more tightly linked to the business goal. In many sectors, there is still a strong need for face-to-face meetings, but the distinction between travel that is crucial for business and travel that is mostly “maintaining a habit” is becoming clearer.
From volume to value: how travel ROI is measured
The pressure to prove Return on Investment (ROI) is visible in both travel policies and the way finance departments track costs. Instead of “how much we traveled,” the question is increasingly “what we got.” Companies are looking for a clearer description of the purpose of the trip, goals per meeting, a plan of expected outcomes, and subsequent evaluation – especially for more expensive international departures, multi-day conferences, and trips involving multiple teams.
In practice, three patterns appear, depending on the industry and organizational culture:
- Trips that close sales cycles – a departure is approved when a face-to-face meeting is crucial for concluding a contract, final negotiations, or resolving key obstacles.
- Trips that accelerate delivery – field work, implementations, audits, inspections, or interventions that shorten project time and reduce operational risk.
- Trips that build knowledge and organizational connection – internal gatherings, strategic offsites, training, and professional meetings, but with stricter criteria for relevance and applicability.
Such an approach does not necessarily mean cutting budgets “everywhere,” but rather redirecting them: more is invested in travel that is business-justified, and less in that which is replaceable by a video call. SAP Concur in its business travel trend reviews highlights that, along with economic and political volatility, organizations are increasingly relying on data and automation to increase compliance, cost control, and the efficiency of travel programs.
Artificial intelligence enters bookings and traveler support
The growth of the use of artificial intelligence in corporate travel is no longer a futuristic topic, but an operational reality. AI is increasingly used for faster searching of options, recommendations in accordance with travel policy, alerts about itinerary changes, automated problem solving, and more precise cost analytics. In practice, the traveler expects the system to “propose the best allowed solution,” rather than wading through dozens of tariffs and rules themselves.
American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) in 2025 introduced new AI functionalities, including support based on large language models in customer service and the ability to query reporting dashboards using natural language. This direction is significant because it shows where the market is going: toward a combination of automation and clear oversight, where part of the process is accelerated “in the background,” and part remains under company control through policies and reporting.
For travel managers, AI brings another type of benefit: faster detection of policy deviations, more precise cost forecasting, and insight into the behavior of travelers and suppliers. This is important precisely because of the shift “from volume to value” – because value is harder to prove without high-quality data on what was purchased, why, when, and with what business effect.
Generational change: Gen Z travels with different expectations
The increasing share of younger employees in the labor market also affects travel programs. Industry research and reports warn that Gen Z and millennials seek greater flexibility, faster digital processes, and clearer support, but also that there are differences in the perception of employer responsibility and in travel motives.
The “Millennial & Gen Z Business Travel Report 2025” by Corporate Travel Management (CTM) emphasizes that younger generations are increasingly shaping expectations around personalization, technology, and the overall travel experience. SAP Concur, based on its global business travel survey, published an analysis of generational differences and concluded that “one policy does not fit all,” because needs and attitudes differ among generations – from expectations about flexibility to the perception of what travel “must provide” to be acceptable.
At the same time, the sensitive issue of
duty of care – the employer's care for the safety and well-being of employees on a business trip – is opening up. Ipsos UK and Amex GBT in their business travel research for 2025 recorded generational differences in how much travelers recognize this employer responsibility, with Gen Z being among the groups that less frequently agree with this, according to their results. For employers, this means a need for clearer communication and education: what support on the road includes, what the rules are in crisis situations, and how to seek help.
Duty of care and travel risks: from legal obligation to management issue
In 2026, duty of care is increasingly becoming a criterion for the quality of a travel program, rather than just a formal obligation. Travel is exposed to a wider spectrum of risks: from sudden flight cancellations and strikes, through local security incidents and political tensions, to health risks and cyber threats related to remote work.
The international standard
ISO 31030:2021 provides guidelines for organizations on travel risk management, including policy development, threat and hazard identification, risk assessments, and prevention and mitigation strategies. The standard emphasizes the need for a structured approach: clear distribution of responsibilities, assessment and approval processes, constant situation assessment, and plans for traveler support in incident situations.
In practice, this translates into increasingly concrete measures:
- Itinerary visibility and the ability to quickly contact the traveler in case of extraordinary circumstances.
- Standardized procedures – what to do in case of flight cancellations, security alerts, health problems, or evacuation.
- Supplier assessment (carriers, hotels, transfers) and compliance with internal security standards and contractual obligations.
- Fatigue and well-being management – recognizing the risk of exhaustion, overload, and reduced performance after travel.
An additional challenge is the blurring of boundaries between the business and private parts of a trip. Scenarios where an employee extends a business trip for personal days or combines several travel reasons into one itinerary are appearing more frequently. For organizations, this opens up questions of responsibility, insurance, and policy application: what is considered business and what is private, and how to ensure that the rules are clear and enforceable.
Traveler experience as a business tool: wellbeing, productivity, and talent retention
In a period where companies compete for talent, the business travel experience ceases to be a “nice to have.” It becomes part of a broader productivity and talent retention policy. Traveler wellbeing is increasingly mentioned in the industry as a metric: how much the trip supports work performance, how exhausting it is, what the risk of burnout is, and whether the traveler has a sense of control over basic decisions – from flight times to accommodation conditions.
This manifests in details: more reasonable itineraries, avoiding extremely early flights when not necessary, the possibility of choosing a hotel that supports work and rest, and faster problem-solving on the road. In such a framework, “value” is not just a contract or a sale, but also the fact that the traveler can work normally the next day, that they are safe, and that time is not wasted on administration.
SAP Concur in its trend reviews emphasizes that automation and digital payments, along with stronger compliance and the fight against fraud, are becoming key topics because they free up time and reduce friction for travelers and finance. Digitization of processes – from booking to expense reporting – is increasingly directly linked to the sense of "value" of the trip: if the administrative burden is high, the perception of benefit from the trip and the willingness to travel drop.
Sustainability and reporting: travel under the ESG microscope
Along with ROI, another big filter in 2026 is sustainability. In many organizations, travel is entering broader ESG frameworks, and travel programs are expected to be able to show emissions and progress toward internal goals. This does not mean that travel is automatically canceled, but that alternatives are increasingly sought: train instead of plane on shorter routes, choosing hotels with clear standards, grouping meetings to reduce the number of departures, or combining multiple business goals into one trip.
Here, too, data and automation gain a key role. Without systematic collection of information on itineraries, costs, and related indicators, reporting becomes a manual job that rarely lives in practice. Therefore, travel & expense solutions are increasingly positioned as management platforms rather than just booking tools.
What an “approved trip” looks like in 2026
When everything is summed up, business travel in 2026 most often passes if several conditions are met: a clearly defined goal, a realistic outcome plan, a reasonable budget, compliance with policy, and acceptable risk. In an increasing number of companies, approval is faster when these elements are visible already in the request, rather than subsequently through long explanations.
Travel managers are therefore shifting focus from a “cheaper ticket” to a “better decision”:
- Policies are becoming smarter – more rules are built into the tools, and there is less reliance on manual control and subsequent approvals.
- Data becomes a common language – the CFO, travel manager, and traveler have different priorities, but tensions are more easily resolved when metrics are clear and comparable.
- Safety and support are part of the value – duty of care is not just a cost, but a prerequisite for the trip to be justified and carried out at all.
- Traveler experience affects the result – a poorly organized trip often means poorer performance, even if it “saved” money on paper.
The market returns, but under new rules
Viewed from an industry perspective, 2026 does not look like a return to the “old normal,” but like stabilization on a model in which travel occurs when it is business-meaningful, technologically supported, and security-covered. GBTA forecasts suggest growth in spending, but also the fact that growth is subject to external shocks – from geopolitics to price changes and budget pressures. That is precisely why organizations are trying to build travel programs that are more resilient: with better insight into costs, clearer value criteria, and clear criteria for when travel is justified.
If in previous years the question was “when will we travel again,” in 2026 another is increasingly asked:
how to travel smarter – so that a result is brought from every departure, while not losing employee trust, cost control, and a sense of security.
Sources:- GBTA – Business Travel Index Outlook 2025–2029 (Executive Summary), spending forecasts and market trends (link)- Business Travel News Europe – report on GBTA projections for 2025 and 2026 and the impact of geopolitical uncertainty (link)- SAP Concur – review of trends and challenges in business travel (AI, volatility, compliance, automation) (link)- SAP News – SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey 2025, different views of CFOs, travel managers, and travelers (link)- American Express Global Business Travel – announcement of AI solutions (LLM support and natural language queries in reporting) (link)- Corporate Travel Management (CTM) – “Millennial & Gen Z Business Travel Report 2025”, generational expectations and preferences (link)- SAP Concur – analysis of generational differences in the perception of business travel (Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, baby boomers) (link)- ISO – ISO 31030:2021 Travel risk management, guidelines for travel risk management (link)
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