The pressure of increasing costs is the biggest challenge facing corporate travel buyers in 2025, according to a new survey by Business Travel Show Europe.
The poll of more than 160 corporate travel and procurement professionals from around the world found that 28 per cent thought that rising costs would be their top challenge this year.
This was followed by airline distribution issues around NDC and One Order at 22 per cent and then airline pricing (20 per cent), budget (19 per cent) and cost cutting (18 per cent). Airline pricing had been the number one concern in the two previous surveys conducted in December 2023 and June 2023.
While cost concerns largely dominated the likely challenges for buyers in 2025, accommodation pricing dropped out of the top 10 concerns compared with December 2023’s results, as did the “pressure to make travel programmes more sustainable”, which was in eighth place a year ago.
Conversely, leakage from travel programmes and data/reporting were both new entries into the list of buyers’ top 10 challenges this year.
Corporate travel professionals based in continental Europe cited airline pricing and distribution, as well as increasing costs as their joint top concerns at 24 per cent each.
In the UK, the pressure of increasing costs was comfortably top of the poll (30 per cent), followed by cost cutting, demonstrating value and enforcing compliance (all at 20 per cent).
Business Travel Show Europe, which is run by the BTN Group, surveyed a total of 163 travel buyers and managers, executive assistants and PAs in late 2024. This included 39 per cent of respondents from the UK and 46 per cent from the rest of Europe.
BTN Group’s executive vice president Louis Magliaro said: “2024 was an unsettling year geopolitically with elections in the UK, US and France among others and wars continuing to rage in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. This has had a huge impact on the markets and costs globally have spiralled.
“It’s no surprise that travel managers are feeling the pinch or that it’s pushing sustainability further down the agenda for so many. ‘The pressure to be more sustainable’ has dropped out of the top 10 challenges overall and among respondents in the UK and the rest of the world.
“However, there’s no question we are all committed to travelling and managing travel more sustainably – we are seeing that through enhancements to technology, access to data and investment in SAF (“sustainable” aviation fuel), for example.
“While airline pricing was top of the challenges last year, the positive news is that we are beginning to see prices in key markets fall, and air capacity and competition is returning.
“It’s also interesting to see leakage joining this year’s top 10 – this was debated extensively at Business Travel Show Europe in June, as were all the key pain points and opportunities facing corporate travel managers.”
Business Travel Show Europe in London will return on 25-26 June. Before then, the first Business Travel Show APAC will be held from 16-17 April in Singapore, which will be followed by the inaugural Business Travel Show America in New York on 15-16 October.