Latest Global Business Travel Review Unveiled

Advantage Travel Partnership, in partnership with travel data and reporting specialists, Travelogix, has published the ninth edition of its Global Business Travel Review. The report features a comprehensive review of January to June 2025 data, consisting of 555,138 records and £341.96m of spend. The report reveals changes to traveller spending and booking behaviour, destination pivots and hotel attachment opportunity.

The key findings of the Review revealed:

• Global Business Travel Industry spend continues to increase year over year
• Short-Haul Travel Is on the Rise; Long-Haul Traffic to North America Has Declined
• North America Travel: Fewer Bookings, Higher Prices
• A Shift Towards Shorter, Simpler Business Trips
• Reduced Demand for Domestic and European Rail Travel for Business
• Low Hotel Attachment Offers Opportunity for Increased Revenue and Improved Duty of Care
• Business Travellers Continue to Opt for Offline Bookings with Expert Guidance

Tariff Impact to US Travel

Bookings to North America fell by 25.67 percent in H1 2025 as a combination of tariffs, trade friction and rising costs. This has likely resulted in UK businesses adopting a more cautious stance when it comes to business travel to the US. The data reveals that business travel from the UK to North America is in decline, but it is not necessarily how you may expect.

The drop in booking volumes to the US suggests that UK-based organisations are sending fewer people to the United States, however, as the spend associated with these bookings has only declined by 7.03 percent and the average booking value has risen by 25.08 percent, it is more likely to be senior personnel or those involved in high-value meetings travelling. These travellers will often qualify for premium-cabin travel, flexible ticketing options or extended stays, factors which can all have a significant impact on the average spend.

A Shift Towards Shorter, Simpler Business Trips away from North America

The top 10 destinations booked in H1 2025 accounted for 17.08 percent of all UK outbound traffic, a slight but telling concentration in travel patterns. The remaining 82.92 percent comprises over 1,900 other unique and varied origin and destinations (O&Ds), showcasing a thirst for diverse travel patterns. The decline in unique O&Ds could be a sign of dwindling traveller confidence or an intentional move away from complex itineraries.

There has been a significant downturn in long-haul international travel, especially to North America which is the clearest indicator of this. For example, New York held the second spot in 2024 in terms of booking volume but has dropped to fourth in 2025. Meanwhile, Los Angeles, which previously appeared in the top 10 destinations in H1 2024 fell to 22nd position in the same period this year. Yet another telling sign of a retreat from the intercontinental business travel, potentially linked to the political climate in the US and globally, economic fluctuations and unrest or evolving corporate travel policies.

In contrast, short-haul travel, particularly within the UK and Europe, has seen slight but noticeable growth with the number of UK-Europe routes in the top 10 rising from 5 to 7 suggesting a focus on regional business travel. Across all destinations, there has been a 4.92 percent reduction in spend and a 12.35 percent drop in volume suggesting a market cooling across the board. The Advance Purchase metrics further support this view. In 2025, the average Advance Purchase time decreased by 9.3 percent year-on-year, dropping from 40.42 days to 36.66. For US routes specifically, Advance Purchase fell by nearly seven days, indicating shorter planning windows for travel and, perhaps, less certainty (or urgency) in transatlantic travel/planning.

Rail vs Air Modal Shift Remains Flat, but Domestic Booking Volumes Are Down

When looking at the rail and air split for travel, H1 2025 has seen only minor changes on routes where both are viable options such as between the UK and the key European business hubs of Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. Rail is accounting for 42.74 percent of bookings, a slight decrease from 43.61 percent in H1 2024, however, the volume of total bookings on these eligible routes has grown by 7.94 percent year-on-year, reflecting healthy business activity across the region. Airfares are significantly higher than their rail alternatives in 2025, yet despite this the modal preference has subtly shifted in favour of air travel, particularly on routes to Paris and Amsterdam.

While rail remains an attractive proposition in terms of cost and green credentials, it is still battling to win business travellers as factors such as scheduling, convenience and the preferences of both bookers and travellers continue to influence choices. The data highlights differences in each route to challenge the one-size-fits-all view of air vs EU rail trends.

Meanwhile, for UK domestic rail travel there has been minimal modal shift from air to rail between London and UK hubs such as Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness when comparing 2025 to 2024. There has, however, been a significant fall in overall demand as total booking volumes across these routes have declined by 15.25 percent year-on-year. This is a 16.3 percent drop in air bookings and a 13.46 percent drop in rail, as businesses opt against domestic travel with budgets reduced or spent elsewhere.

Hotel Attachment Remains Low, with Significant Revenue Leakage

Data analysis of booking behaviour in H1 2025 has revealed a consistent gap in corporate travel programmes when it comes to hotel attachment. From a total of 456,121 bookings identified as eligible for overnight stays, only 69,993 had an associated hotel booking which is an attachment rate of just 15.35 percent.

As the majority of travellers are booking accommodation outside of approved channels, using external providers or consumer platforms, an estimated 1.25 million bed nights were linked with bookings where no hotel was attached. This has resulted in a missed revenue opportunity exceeding approximately £254 million and therefore up to £25.4M in lost commission revenue for TMCs. The low hotel attachment rate also means travellers are potentially bypassing corporate policy and negotiated rates, impacting duty of care and well-being, as well as spend control and supplier performance.

The data highlights a key opportunity for travel buyers, suppliers, TMCs and the wider industry as boosting hotel attachment rates could unlock significant untapped value, both in terms of direct savings for the traveller and missed commission for the TMC. It would also tighten compliance and improve traveller tracking for well-being and duty of care purposes.

TMCs Continue to Demonstrate Value for Business Travellers

When looking at online versus offline booking trends from the UK for the first half of 2025, the data reveals a strong preference for offline booking channels within corporate travel, accounting for 78.93 percent of all booking volume and 85.37 percent of revenue. It is clear expert guidance remains required for complex trips despite ever increasing options of self-serve digital platforms/tools.

This difference in revenue share reflects different bookings as online transactions tend to be simpler, lower-value bookings, while offline bookings are more likely to involve complex itineraries and multiple touchpoints. This is further reinforced by the average booking values: £540.62 for online bookings versus £842.13 for offline bookings – a significant 43.61 percent difference in value.

There is also a major regional variance in online adoption as just 6.09 percent of bookings to South America are made online due to a heavy reliance on agent support. Whereas 86.45 percent of bookings to Oceania are made online until Australian clients are removed from the analysis which sees the online booking rate drop dramatically to just 5.67 percent, aligning closely with the South American figure.

The report also features expert industry analysis from Anthony Woodall, Business Commercial Manager at LNER, John Ryan, Vice President, Global Travel Partnerships and Leisure Sales at Hilton, and Fred Lindgren, VP of Agency Sales, EMEA of Travelport, and Jack Dow, Founder and CEO of Grapevine. Meanwhile members of the Advantage Global Network offer their perspectives from Argentina, Oman, India, the USA, and more.

Andrea Caulfield-Smith, Managing Director Global Business Travel at Advantage Travel Partnership, said: "For the ninth edition of the Global Business Travel Review, we’ve taken a bold new approach. This year is all about the reality on the ground and looking at how travellers are behaving right now, not predictions, not forecasts, but the real choices being made today.

The data is clear: business travel is on the rise, but it’s fascinating to see how some choices are changing whilst others still have a longer way to go than we might have thought. Geo-politics are having a notable effect with North American businesses still figuring out the new normal. These are not future trends, they’re today’s realities, and they’re shaping the way travel is booked and managed.

The overall business travel industry is in continual growth, rising from $1.46 trillion in 2024 to $1.57 trillion in 2025, and our independent TMCs are continually winning new business as corporates increasingly turn to subject matter experts to manage their travel programmes.

At Advantage, we’re committed to equipping our members with the insights and tools they need to act decisively in this fast-moving landscape. Our industry leading single-stop solution remains at the heart of that mission, delivering market-leading capabilities that meet the needs of today’s traveller, alongside leveraging our significant group buying power.

A huge thank you to our long-standing partners Travelogix, our supplier partners and global industry experts for their contributions, your real-time insights are what make this Review a true reflection of the business travel world as it is today."

Chris Lewis, Founder and CEO at Travelogix, said: “Collaboration sits at the heart of what we do here at Travelogix, and the team at Advantage Travel Partnership truly embody this sense of collaboration. As a result of our increasing desire to collaborate and our overarching partnership, we are proud to present our ninth Global Business Travel Review.

In this ninth edition, we have rewritten the script and reimagined the entire dataset to bring you something different. We aimed to provide business travel analysis from a different perspective, and in achieving this, we would like to thank Andrea Caulfield-Smith and the broader team at Advantage for their vision on what this report could evolve into.

While I shouldn’t be looking too far into the future, I can’t help but feel immense pride this Review, and of course, the next one, which will signify a huge milestone being our tenth in collaboration with Advantage Travel Partnership.”