THE MITTELSTAND DRIVING GERMANY’S BOOMING BUSINESS TRAVEL
GERMANY'S LEADING TMCs 2026
Business travel spending in Germany rose to €48.6 billion in 2025, a 3.2 per cent increase year-on-year, according to the latest Business Travel Analysis from the German buyer’s association VDR.
22 June 2026
VDR’s research showed that the number of business trips by Germany-based firms rose by 8.3 per cent year-on-year to 116.1 million in 2025, which the association said was “particularly driven” by SMEs, which accounted for 78 per cent of all volume (90.3 million trips), up 5.6 per cent.
Germany’s travel was increasingly international. The proportion of trips outside Germany was 42 per cent compared with 35 per cent in 2024.
The average cost per trip fell 4.8 per cent to €418 in 2025. This was a sign of tighter and better steering, not weaker demand.
Asked about the impact of geopolitical uncertainty on business travel Tom Drexler of The Travel Consulting Group, part of BTN Europe’s advisory board to the Leading TMCS said, “In our client conversations, transatlantic travel held up better than expected, what changed was the mindset: more caution, more pre-trip scrutiny, here and there more cost discipline.”
He said trade not sentiment was at the heart of this:
“German exports to the US fell around 20 per cent year-on-year — fewer deals mean fewer trips,” said Drexler. “Duty of care for US-bound travellers became a standard pre-trip topic: entry procedures, device policies, visa checks. Nevertheless, we believe that not much has changed (yet).”
GERMANY'S LEADING TMCS 2025 (1-22)
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2025 A VINTAGE YEAR FOR NATIONAL FLAG CARRIER LUFTHANSA
Drexler said, “We believe Lufthansa's record year was, to a significant degree, paid for by its customers. Revenue rose 5 per cent to €39.6 billion on a record load factor of 83.2 per cent. Full aircraft mean firmer pricing and less flexibility, especially out of Frankfurt and Munich, where long-haul alternatives are very limited.”
Lufthansa’s ancillary revenues grew 15 per cent, driven by premium products like the new Allegris cabins — value shifts into paid extras, making total trip cost harder to control and to negotiate.
“The ongoing push towards NDC and direct channels strengthened Lufthansa's hand further, even though NDC still comes with a lot of downsides for TMCs and travel managers,” he said.
One upside for corporate travel managers this year is that operational stability at Lufthansa improved markedly, with irregularity costs down €362 million — travellers felt noticeably fewer disruptions than in 2023/24.
TRAIN DEMAND ON TRACK BUT TIMETABLES DERAILED
Deutsche Bahn returned to operational profitability in 2025 financial year with revenues up by 3.0 percent year-on-year to €27 billion. While operating profit returned to positive territory (€297 million) the group reported a net loss from continuing operations of €2.3 billion.
Punctuality of long-distance trains used by business travellers remains a huge concern. Only 60.1 per cent of long-distance trains arrived on time, down from 62.5 per cent in 2024. This is largely caused by a record number of construction-related delays from infrastructure upgrades.
This will be of particular concern to DB because German rail also potentially faces competitors from other markets.
NTV Italo has presented a €3.6 billion plan to enter the German market with 30 Siemens Velaro trains across 18 cities and more than 50 daily connections.
Rosemarie Caglia of Travel for Business said, “It is a large-scale operation that has encountered a regulatory obstacle: difficulty obtaining fair slots on the Deutsche Bahn network and has prompted Italo to file a complaint with the Bundesnetzagentur, Germany’s rail regulator. A decision is expected soon. This battle matters not only for its commercial implications, but because it highlights many of the unresolved contradictions still affecting the European rail market.”
AI IN THE AIR BUT NOT YET TRANSFORMATIONAL
2025 was the year that AI moved from press release to pilot, but not yet to transformation, in Germany..
Three-quarters of German companies now use AI in expense management and travel policy design; system integration and data protection remain the main hurdles. AI is now delivering in the back office: expense auditing, reporting, compliance.
Drexler said, “The agentic booking assistants showcased by Navan, Spotnana and the GDSs remain largely demo-ware from a buyer's perspective; works councils, GDPR and legacy systems slow German corporates down. We expect 2026/27 to be the point where AI genuinely disintermediates parts of the traditional TMC servicing model — mid-market TMCs that haven't invested will feel it first.”
The Amex GBT-CWT merger approval had a predictable effect in Germany, says Drexler.
“In Germany, CWT customers used the merger as a trigger to re-tender. Mid-sized German TMCs and challengers like Navan and Perk positioned themselves aggressively as alternatives,” he said.
“For large multinationals, choice at the top end shrank. For the German Mittelstand, the opposite is true: integration friction opens a window for agile competitors, and we expect the integration to absorb Amex GBT's management attention well into 2027.”