Face-to-face business trips see a resurgence as corporations emphasize personal encounters

In a recent report, Navan, a leading travel management company, has revealed significant changes in travel spending across various sectors. According to the Navan Business Travel Index (BTI), nonprofit organisations saw a decrease of 5.1%, while the hospitality and travel sector experienced a more substantial reduction of 8.4%. Healthcare and life sciences companies also reduced their travel spending by 15.2%.

However, the report also highlights a positive trend in business travel. The BTI, which tracks international and domestic airline bookings, hotel reservations, and business expenses, shows a 15% year-over-year spike in business travel. This increase is also reflected in the growth seen in the financial services sector (+31%) and media and entertainment sector (+25%).

Navan aimed to prevent COVID-19 from skewing the data presented in the report, and the company observed an increase in companies having their employees connect face-to-face with clients, colleagues, and peers. This shift towards in-person interactions underscores the importance companies are placing on such meetings.

The BTI's findings also reveal an inverse relationship between business and leisure travel. As holiday and seasonal travel goes up, business travel dips. This trend is not unexpected, given the seasonal nature of travel patterns.

Interestingly, the BTI shows that international travel has seen more growth than domestic travel since 2023. Amy Butte, Navan's CFO, conceived the idea for the BTI shortly after joining the company, and the index is built on five core principles: robust data sources, a dynamic weighting system, a verified methodology, an accurate post-pandemic baseline, and Nasdaq validation.

The data points for the BTI come from millions of business transactions across more than 10,000 companies. Government travel saw a modest 4.4% increase, indicating some continuity in official travel despite the overall trend.

TSA data showed a 1% dip in overall travel, which aligns with the emphasis companies are putting on face-to-face interactions. Butte predicts that travel growth will continue among large, small, and medium-sized businesses.

One theory suggested by Butte is that companies may be travelling more to find sourcing for manufacturing in other geographies instead of China. The three most important target countries often visited by small and medium-sized enterprises for business trips, according to the BTI, are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Nasdaq Chief Economist Phil Mackintosh says the Navan BTI offers "a unique, data-driven look at how companies are investing in growth, relationships, and in-person collaboration." With its comprehensive data and robust methodology, the Navan BTI provides valuable insights into the current state and future trends of business travel.

Face-to-face business trips see a resurgence as corporations emphasize personal encounters