Wednesday, July 16, 2025
The business travel industry finds itself at an inflection point in 2025, amid mounting global uncertainty. The U.S. published in travel advisories to its citizens and the E.U. combats xenophobia in the international community—are altering the global business landscape in real time, and companies are adjusting their travel strategies in light of the new risks. “A UNITED SICKLE”: GBTA REPORT HIGHLIGHTS DAMAGE TO BUSINESS TRAVEL INDUSTRY As America continues the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) sent results from its fourth coronavirus poll in a new survey released.
Key findings from GBTA’s GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL OUTLOOK – July 2025 (conducted 9-14 July 2025) of 950 respondents, including corporate travel buyers, suppliers, travel management companies (TMCs) and other industry stakeholders around the world in 45 countries, point to increasing pessimism for the balance of the year. Increasingly, many companies are rethinking how much they travel and spend on travel, particularly travel overseas. And with more and more businesses feeling the strain of outside influences, the business travel landscape is becoming more even-sided outside of the U.S., where companies are looking further afield to less risky areas.
Supplier Revenue Concerns Deepen
That increasing fear over business travel is now starting to show, especially on the supplier side. Lodge suppliers are the most concerned, with 48% of suppliers anticipating a decrease in business travel revenue. Over half (58%) of accommodation providers expect their bookings to decline compared with just 37% in Q2. Suppliers expect a 17 percent average drop in revenue, which was smaller but more spread out than earlier forecasts.
Softening business travel volume outlook, international travel hit
The survey shows a small decrease in business travel volume expectations; 34% of buyers anticipate decrease in trips for 2025. That’s a huge jump from April’s 29%. Average cuts to travel budgets are now expected to be 19%, up from a previous forecast of 21%. But international travel is likely to suffer the most. Those surveyed believe that international business travel will fall by 49% with the average volume of business travel falling by 19%. Domestic and intra-regional business travel, by contrast, is forecast to shrink by only 23%.
Spending Remains a Concern
The future forecast for business travel spending remained concerning. A third of business travel buyers (31%) expect a decrease in their spending by 2025, reflecting how they felt in April (27%). The projected decrease in travel spending, on average, has dipped to 17 per cent (down from 20 per cent), the index suggests. These cuts also reflect both the uncertainty about what the U.S. government is going to do and the tightening financial situation of businesses worldwide.
Regional Differences in Optimism
Worldwide optimism is still reigned in, with industry people getting more worried about the future. The GBTA survey showed industry confidence falling sharply, with global confidence down to 28% in July from 31% in April. This contrasts sharply with optimism in November 2024 – it was 67%. The Asia Pacific had the largest reduction in confidence, dropping from 40% in April to 27% in July. Optimism among corporate travel managers was unchanged at 29%, while suppliers and TMCs were particularly more pessimistic, with levels of optimism dropping from 36% in the year.
Growing Safety, Budget and Employee Willingness to Travel Concerns
Worries about the safety of business travelers are mounting. Almost half (46%) of respondents listed security and duty of care as their number one issue, compared to 37% in April. Other concerns mentioned are border detentions (31%) and budget cuts (44%), which have both risen sharply since the last survey. Moreover, employees are less willing to travel to the U.S., more than one third (41%) feel that their employees are less likely to travel since the U.S. government has taken actions. These worries underscore a growing unwillingness among corporate travelers to take the chance of getting stranded in the face of increasingly restricted entry and travel restrictions.
Canceled, Relocated, and Virtual Meetings Increasing
One of the most significant patterns in business travel is the increase of changes in meetings: cancelations, relocations, and virtual substitution. 18% of travel buyers around the world said they have canceled meetings in the U.S., up from of 13% in April, and another 17% have canceled events in the U.S., up from 10% last month. Thirteen percent of buyers have moved meetings, and 12% have moved events out of the U.S., up from 8% and 6% respectively. In addition, one-quarter of all meetings or events are being moved to virtual compared to 19% in April, which indicates a decisive move towards digital replacements in response to an uncertain future.
Striking New Trade Deals Beyond the U.S.
Non-U.S. companies are responding to changing global dynamics, as a third of them salopes G. based industry professionals (35%) shared their companies were already planning to travel and connect with potential trade partners outside of the United States Europe and Asia Pacific region emerged as the top regions for potential new business opportunities with 70% of respondents viewing Europe as the most promising region while 53% said the same of APAC for international business engagement.
Personal Repercussions of U.S. Government Decisions
While U.S. government actions are being felt personally in other cases, that is also increasingly true in the case of COVID-19. Employees have already turned down U.S.-based business trips due to recent U.S. policy changes, 18% of travel buyers said in the survey. That’s also up from 23% in April, and 35% also said that they have a friend or family member who has had to alter travel plans directly because of these policy changes.
Navigating the New Business Travel Terrain
The business travel sector is heading into the second half of 2025 with some significant headwinds to navigate in terms of revenue, volume and security. The U.S. government’s actions have continued to mold the global business travel landscape, leading to reappraisals by organizations of their travel strategies and consideration of new markets. In this era of increasingly virtual events and a sharp move away from U.S.-based meetings, the global business travel industry is adjusting to a new normal that will likely be even more dynamic and unforeseeable than the previous one.
