The Future of Business Travel Takes Centre Stage

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) welcomed 5,375 business travel professionals from 52 countries to its annual convention at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver last week.

Held against the backdrop of an evolving global landscape and economy, the 3-day event featured innovation, insight, and industry-defining dialogue. And, as the world’s largest gathering of the global business travel community, it showcased the sector’s strategic importance and a collective vision for managing growth, navigating uncertainty, and optimizing technologies.

Attendees included 1,141 travel buyers representing 680 buyer companies as well as 372 travel industry exhibitors.

Suzanne Neufang, CEO GBTA, said: “The Convention reinforced a unified vision for the future of business travel: collaborative, innovative, with purpose-driven growth.”

And Neufang continued: “It’s clear that business travel is here to stay — the travel purchasing power of companies at Convention represented annual business travel spending of at least $77.8 billion. As we navigate through times of uncertainty and change, GBTA’s mission in business travel’s continued success is make sure we move forward with purpose, driven by collaboration, strategy and insights.”

During the convention, GBTA released its 2025 GBTA Business Travel Index Outlook – Annual Global Report and Forecast (GBTA BTI) made possible by Visa. Now in its 17th year, the GBTA BTI report is a comprehensive five-year forecast on business travel spending covering 72 countries and 44 industries and includes insights from 7,300+ global business travelers.

Highlights from the report include:

• Global business travel spending is expected to reach USD $1.57 trillion in 2025, marking moderate growth amid ongoing trade policy uncertainty and economic risks. Despite slower growth this year than in 2024, spending is projected to rebound and surpass $2 trillion by 2029, influenced by shifts in trade, investment and corporate travel behaviors. (Read the 2025 GBTA BTI launch announcement here).
• Business travel spending is projected to grow globally by 6.6% in 2025, slowing from previous double-digit gains, with a rebound to 8.1% growth expected in 2026. Long-term forecasts remain uncertain due to geopolitical and economic volatility.
• The U.S. is expected to lead business travel spending in 2025, followed by China, Germany, Japan, and the UK. Sectors like Manufacturing face risks from trade tensions, whereas Arts & Entertainment and Professional Services exceed pre-pandemic levels.
• Traveller sentiment and behavior towards business travel remains positive with 86% of respondents rating trips as worthwhile and increased average trip spending. Adoption of corporate expense systems, AI booking tools, corporate cards, and mobile wallets is rising globally.

For more, go to www.gbta.org .