FRANCE’S BUSINESS TRAVEL IS BOOMING BUT LOOK BEYOND THE HEADLINES
FRANCE'S LEADING TMCs 2026
Business travel spending in France hit a new record in 2025 but the figure should not be taken at face value.
22 June 2026
In its annual business travel barometer, management consultancy EPSA announced that business travel spending in France was €30.9 billion, 3.3 per cent higher than the 2019 pre-Covid peak. It shows that business travel has once again become structurally necessary.
“In spite of Teams, Zoom, sobriety policies [reducing energy use and carbon impact] and budget restrictions, companies continue to need business travel to sell, manage projects, meet customers and partners, lead teams and secure business relationships,” said Alexandre Veau of Impact Consultants, the French advisor to the Leading TMCs ranking.
This record is more of a boom in cost rather than volumes, he says.
“The growth in 2025 is largely driven by prices, not by an explosion in demand. For 2026, EPSA anticipates growth of 2.2 per cent that would be driven by inflation but slowed by a slight decline in demand of 0.4 per cent. In other words, companies are spending more to travel in an environment where costs remain high, but they are not traveling much more than before,” said Veau.
The figures hide a slowdown in hotel bookings after the bumper year of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“The sector is emerging from the post-Covid catch-up phase to enter a more mature phase: volumes are stabilizing, companies are making more trade-offs, and suppliers are no longer automatically benefiting from a rebound effect,” said Veau.
For companies, the question is no longer "should we travel?" but "which trips really create value?". Purchasing, finance and travel management departments must now finely segment trips between the essential, the digitizable and the strictly controlled. Travel is becoming a full-fledged management policy, measured on criteria of price, digitalisation, carbon footprint and optimisation.
On the customer side, this record reflects a higher, but also more constrained service expectation. Buyers want tools, budget visibility, compliance and CO2 measurement, while preserving flexibility for employees. Average price and length of stay remain under surveillance: travel must now prove its performance.
2025 was also the year when AI established itself as a central tool in the management of business travel.
“80 per cent of business travellers used generative AI to search, plan or book a trip, and more than half are now comfortable entrusting the entire process to it,” said Veau. “Companies are investing in AI for real-time itinerary adjustments, policy compliance, fare re-shopping, predictive analytics and automated expense tracking. NDC, agentic AI, biometrics and carbon management are profoundly redefining the travel function, with a consolidation of TMCs accelerating this transformation.”
FRANCE'S LEADING TMCS 2025 (1-33)
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AVIATION AND DISTRIBUTION CONFIGURATIONS IMPACT BUSINESS TRAVEL
France’s aviation sector took a hit in March 2025 with sharp increases in the TSBA (Taxe de Solidarité sur les Billets d'Avion) aviation tax. This rose from €2.63 to €7.40 in intra-European economy class, €30 in business class and up to €120 extra on a long-haul business flight. The increase contributed to +2 points of inflation in air transport, generating more than €3 billion euro in public revenue and placing France among the highest air taxes in Europe.
Despite this, flag carrier Air France enjoyed a boost in premium traffic.
Business class revenues at the airline increased by 11 per cent and premium economy by 27 per cent, while corporate demand increased by 6 per cent year-on-year despite stable passenger traffic (102.8 million passengers in 2025, compared to 104.2 million in 2019).
“Unit revenues increased without volume growth, thanks to the development of premium cabins, high-speed Wi-Fi and the modernisation of lounges,” said Veau. “The operating margin reached 6.1 per cent - a record for the group, but still lower than that of Lufthansa or IAG. The drop in the price of kerosene and the Back on Track efficiency programme significantly supported this performance.”
NDC gains ground in France but there is uncertainty for TMCs
In the French market, Air France sells one in every two tickets via NDC generally, but one in three for business travel tickets.
Air France’s GDS surcharges were first scheduled in September 2022 but have been subject to ever-shifting rules. From 1 January 2025, the surcharge for TMCs using EDIFACT connections with an agreement with the airline was €24. For TMCs which had signed an NTA (NDC Transition Agreement) contract with the airline, this surcharge was €3. This surcharge was increased to €4 in November 2025 which has now been extended until 31 December 2026.
The ban on short domestic flights in France is now two years old.
“The ban had a strong symbolic and political effect, but a limited impact on business travel in France,” said Veau. “The three routes concerned (Paris-Orly to Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux) represented only 4 per cent of French domestic flights and 0.002 per cent of all flights in the country, around 500,000 passengers per year, too limited a scope to disrupt the sector's architecture. In environmental terms, the estimated savings remain modest: around 55,000 tons of CO2 per year.”
The real effect is behavioural.
“The measure has reinforced the rail reflex on certain routes and accelerated the logic of train-plane substitution in companies' travel policies, without however generating a significant national carbon gain,” said Veau.
A concrete sign of the change was Air France’s permanent withdrawal from Orly airport, after 80 years. Orly was historically a privileged gateway for domestic business travel day trips but demand has now fizzled out. All Air France’s domestic routes and its flights to overseas territories have been transferred to Roissy-CDG, and Transavia has become the group's sole operator at Orly.
SOME BENEFICIARIES: SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS
Rail has been a structural beneficiary of this change. SNCF is profitable with fares up a moderate +2.8 per cent in the first half of 2025.
Sustainability is becoming a structural priority: companies are now integrating green mobility into their travel policies, favouring train and less polluting options, and favouring suppliers engaged in responsible practices.
More broadly, travel policies are being reconfigured.
CSR, better grouped trips and train/plane trade-offs are taking on increasing weight compared to cost.
The share of business tourism in French hotels fell by 15.4 points between 2019 and 2024, reflecting a lasting upheaval in practices, while flexibility and personalisation are progressing with accommodation increasingly adapted to long stays and teleworking.
TMCS IN FOCUS
Looking at TMCs in particular, the merger of Amex GBT and CWT has caused major ripples in France. Amex GBT now combines the activity of Egencia (acquired in 2021) and CWT's historical network, creating a "major imbalance" compared to local TMCs according to the trade press.
The merger means fewer options for multinational corporations and gives the merged TMC enormous buying power with suppliers in the market.
Players such as BCD Travel, FCM and Perk are clearly targeting dissatisfied CWT customers.
In summary, a number of key factors stand out in the France business travel sector.
- Companies are traveling again, but more selectively
- The negotiating power of corporate buyers remains under pressure, with Air France prioritising yield, NDC distribution and upgrading their product
- Corporate travel budgets have been maintained or even increased, particularly on long-haul and premium segments, despite inflation and geopolitical tensions
Looking ahead, the French business travel market is expected to reach €31.6 billion in 2026 (+2.2 per cent), according to EPSA, with 45 per cent of companies planning to increase their travel budgets despite inflation and international tensions.