Economic factors and global political uncertainty continue to impact the business travel sector in Europe, despite a significant rise in spend this year.

According to the latest figures from the GBTA, European business travel spending is projected to reach €360.4 billion in 2024 – a 10.4% jump compared with 2023.

But although Europe’s business travel market has made significant strides in recovering from the pandemic, its share of the global market remains slightly below pre-Covid levels. 

The GBTA 2024 Business Travel Index Outlook, out this week, predicts that over the next five years European spending is expected to grow faster than most global regions, but slower than Asia Pacific.

It is expected to reach €476.6 billion by 2028 and to account for 25.8% of anticipated global business travel spending €1.84 trillion in 2028. 

The figures were shared at the 2024 GBTA VDR Europe Conference in partnership with the Nordic Business Travel Associations being held in Copenhagen this week.

“We can see in this regional analysis that the value and demand for business travel in Europe continues to be strong,” said Catherine Logan, GBTA Regional Senior Vice President, EMEA and APAC.

“At the same time, it also shows the critical importance for accelerating efforts to build a more sustainable industry. The future prosperity of business travel relies on embedding sustainability across all aspects of the travel experience.”  

GBTA’s survey of 1,112 travellers across Europe shows a heightened awareness of environmental concerns, with 22% of European business travellers say limiting carbon emissions is their top priority on business trips and that they are willing to compromise comfort for a lower carbon footprint. This is higher than the global average of 16%. 

Europe-based business travellers (42%) are also more likely than those in North America (36%) and Asia Pacific (35%) to say they “always” or “often” think about carbon emissions when deciding whether to travel for work in the first place.

But European business travellers are not necessarily more likely than travellers globally to consider emissions when making decisions when they actually do travel ─ such as choosing more sustainable options when it comes to flights (40% vs. 41%), lodging (44% vs. 46%), or meals (42% vs. 46%). 

For European business travellers, lodging remains the largest category of business travel spending, followed by food and beverage and air travel.

Additionally, multi-modal and more sustainable transport options continue to grow across the region.

Accommodation remains the largest category of business travel spending and is also larger in Europe – relative to other categories − than it is worldwide, accounting for €128.9 billion, followed by food and beverage (€63.3 billion), air travel (€56.9 billion), and ground transportation (€42.2 billion).

European business trips are less likely to involve air travel, with one-third of European business travellers (34%) saying their last work trip included a flight. This is lower than the share globally (43%), and in every other region.

Nearly one-third of European business travellers (29%) opted for train travel on their last trip – significantly higher than the global average of 19%.

Almost one-quarter of European business travellers (23%) say they are traveling “more frequently” today than they did five years ago.

But around the same number (22%) say they are traveling for work less frequently now.

Globally, a larger number of business travellers today are travelling for work “more frequently” (28%) than “less frequently” (20%).

On average, European business travellers estimate they stayed 2.9 nights at their destination on their last work trip, similar to the global average of 3.0 nights. 

A significant chunk of European travel is ‘unmanaged’, with 45% of travellers booking air fares through a retail channel such as online travel agencies (OTAs), rather than managed corporate channels (31%).

European travellers are also more likely to use retail (41%) than managed channels (28%) when booking a hotel.

Additionally, when it comes specifically to the type of retail channel used, European business travellers (27%) were more likely than their North American counterparts (17%) to use an online travel agency (OTA) when booking their last flight, while North American travellers are more likely to book directly with an airline (27% versus 18% respectively). 

gbta.org