GBTA poll finds concerns, uncertainty growing within industry

Global business travel professionals are navigating “a complex and uncertain landscape” as they try to determine the potential impact of recent US government actions — including tariffs, cross-border policies and entry restrictions — on business travel volume, spending and revenue for 2025.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), in a new poll, found that a significant portion of over 900 global industry respondents are anticipating declines ahead and overall optimism has taken a hit in the last few weeks, reflecting the uncertainty gripping the sector and other industries.

In the survey, the GBTA defined “recent U.S. government actions” as tariffs on imported products, US entry restrictions for travellers from specific countries, advisories against travel to the US, cross-border policies resulting in detainment risks, and decreased business travel for US federal employees.

As a result of these multiple initiatives, the poll reveals that:

• Less than half of global buyers (44%) anticipate their organization’s business travel spending and volume in 2025 will not be impacted, compared to 25% of travel suppliers who say the same for their business travel revenue.
• Almost a third (29%) of global travel buyers expect a decline in business travel volume at their companies in 2025, averaging a 21% decrease. Additionally, a fairly large portion of travel buyers (19%) are uncertain about what the impact will be.
• Related, 27% of buyers now predict a 20% decrease on average in their business travel spending this year. (Notably, with global business travel spending forecast to reach $1.63 trillion USD in 2025, that could represent a potential decline in spending of up to $88 billion.
• 37% of travel suppliers and travel management company (TMC) professionals anticipate a decline of 18% on average in related revenue.
• Because of overall concerns, only 31% of global industry professionals remain optimistic about the overall industry outlook for this year, while 40% are neutral. This marks a significant decline from GBTA’s November 2024 poll where 67% of global industry professionals reported an optimistic outlook for 2025 and 26% were neutral.

Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA, said of the findings that: “While the outlook for global business travel was incredibly strong coming into 2025, our research now shows increasing concerns and uncertainty within our industry, considering recent actions taken by the US government. Traveling for work plays a vital role in supporting business growth, resilient economies, strong diplomatic ties and valuable connections.”

Neufang continues: “Productive and essential business travel is threatened in times of economic uncertainty or in an environment of additional barriers and restrictions. This undermines economic prosperity and damages the many sectors that rely on global business travel to survive and thrive.”

Two key factors to watch for that would influence longer-term impact for business travel, Neufang said are: if there’s sustained economic pressure or uncertainty weighing on company budgets and if cross-border travel and global workforce mobility to and from the US are restricted.

Go to www.gbta.org for more.