Business travel costs in Germany increased ‘significantly’ in 2023, according to the latest report by the country’s corporate travel association, VDR.
Following the release of preliminary data, VDR this week published its Business Travel Analysis 2024 report, which, following a survey of 800 German travel managers (conducted between January and April 2024), revealed business travel volumes increased 55 per cent year-on-year in 2023, with a total of 116.7 million trips.
The number of business travellers also increased 18 per cent year-on-year to close to 10 million, while the cost of business travel is “higher than ever before”, averaging €400 per trip. Nevertheless, total spending is still 17 per cent below the ‘peak’ of 2019, according to the report.
“In times of change, there seems to be a trend reversal,” VDR said in a statement. “Companies in Germany are now planning business trips more cautiously and with more foresight – on the one hand for cost reasons and on the other hand with a view to environmentally conscious action. Under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), larger companies, in particular, are now obliged to make mobility environmentally friendly.”
The report also revealed a trend towards booking longer trips and ‘bundling’ appointments and events, with the average length of a trip increasing to 2.6 days. This development has also taken hold in small-and-medium-sized businesses, with employees at these companies travelling a whole day longer in 2023 than in 2019.
Blended or ‘bleisure’ travel remains popular, with almost 90 per cent of German companies stating they already permit blended travel or plan to do so. In addition, 76 per cent of companies support remote work and ‘workation’ from abroad.
Levels of international travel are also on the rise for German corporates, according to the survey. While the majority of business travel remains domestic, 28 per cent of trips in 2023 were abroad – a number that, according to VDR, is “higher than ever before”.
Due to the proportional increase in international travel, the number of overnight stays in 2023 also grew “above average” to 82.3 million – significantly exceeding 2019 figures, which totalled 74.3 million.
While most overnight stays were domestic (56.7 million), the international footprint of German business travellers is “clearly noticeable”, VDR said, with 25.6 million international overnight stays in 2023, compared to just 13.2 million in 2022.
The report also highlighted a move towards ‘holistic mobility management’, not only to better manage costs, but also to reduce the carbon footprint of business travel, with 92 per cent of businesses surveyed offering ‘sustainable mobility alternatives’ to employees, such as bike leasing or public transport options. The move from car or taxi to public transport is increasing, with 55 per cent of surveyed companies already using this measure or planning to do so.
However, VDR noted the switch from planes to trains was mentioned “somewhat less frequently” compared to previous years, but that the flight offer was also “significantly reduced” compared to 2021 levels.
Process optimisation was highlighted as a primary area of concern for travel managers, followed by environmental sustainability and travel safety.