Most corporate buyers project full travel recovery by year-end
About a tenth of travel buyers said it would take until at least 2025 for business travel to reach 2019 levels
About three-quarters of travel managers expect domestic business travel and external meetings travel volumes to reach pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year, and while the economy looms as a top concern, most said it has not caused cutbacks to their programs, according to a survey of 151 U.S.-based travel buyers conducted by the Global Business Travel Association.
Key takeaways
- More than half of buyers in the survey said the number of trips for domestic travel and external meetings already has returned to pre-pandemic levels;
- A slightly lower 46 percent said conference and group travel has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but an additional 30 percent expect that to happen in 2023;
- For internal meetings and retreats, 44 percent of travel managers said volumes have already recovered, and 25 percent said full recovery will occur in 2023.