Most CEOs plan to increase their travel budgets this year, as the C-suite sees business travel as valuable not only for revenue generation but for employee morale, according to a TravelPerk-commissioned report published on June 13.
The Value of Business Travel Report, which included 4,600 business travelers and 625 travel managers and administrators within the TravelPerk customer base as well as 2,000 company decision-makers outside TravelPerk’s customer base, 540 of whom were C-suite leaders, showed that 62% of CEOs expect a year-over-year increase to their travel budgets.
U.S. companies were the most bullish in the survey, with 61% of companies planning to increase budgets. Less than half of European companies said the same, however, including 39% of companies in Germany, 46% of companies in the U.K. and 48% of companies in Spain.
Expansion into new markets was the top reason for increased budgets, cited by 47% of companies, according to the report. Other top reasons include more attendance of conference and events and a larger headcount.
The survey also showed an appreciation of business travel for return on investment both on the financial and human impact sides. Business leaders in the survey attributed on average about a third of their companies’ 2023 sales growth to in-person meetings, and 95% of the leaders said their company would lose customers without in-person meetings, a loss of about 27% of their customer base on average.
Additionally, 82% of U.S. CEOs and 65% of European CEOs in the survey said business travel helps with employee retention, and 75% of HR decision-makers in the survey said that adding business travel opportunities in job descriptions made them more attractive to applicants. Among the traveler segment of the survey, 63% said traveling for work makes them more likely to stay with their current employer, and that increased to 76% among the subset of Generation Z employees.
The report indicated that companies that increased their travel budget in 2023 had an employee turnover rate of 8.6%, which is below the Gallup average of 10% and 3.5 points lower than companies that reduced their budgets.
For those companies that expect to reduce budgets this year,
about a third of companies in the survey, cost of travel was the top
driver, cited by 35% of respondents. Other key reasons included company
cost-cutting measures (30%) and concerns about environmental
sustainability (27%).
“In today’s fiercely competitive landscape, companies recognize the immense value that business travel delivers,” said TravelPerk CEO and co-founder Avi Meir. “From the boost in employee engagement and revenue generated from in-person meetings, to conducting work that can only happen by being there, business travel is far more than just a cost center — it’s an investment in growth, innovation, and company culture.”
Surveys for the report were conducted April 10 to 17.
This report was initially published in Business Travel News.