Over the past year, an increasing proportion of corporate travel managers have assumed additional responsibilities for managing meetings, according to the latest research by Business Travel Show Europe.
A survey of 192 corporate travel and procurement professionals found that 60.5 per cent are now jointly responsible for travel and meetings – up from 50 per cent of survey respondents in 2025.
Among only this year's surveyed travel buyers, 8.4 per cent took on their meetings remit within the last 12 months, suggesting an ongoing trend towards greater programme consolidation and strategic meetings management. However, it may also reflect mounting pressure on travel managers to do more with less in the context of ongoing geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty.
Notably, 42 per cent of respondents cited “overloaded and under-resourced teams” as the primary challenge in integrating meetings and travel management, significantly outpacing concerns such as technology integration issues (10.9 per cent), reduced decision-making agility (9.2 per cent), and loss of specialist expertise (7.6 per cent).
Conversely, respondents identified key benefits to integrated travel and meetings programmes, including cost savings (53 per cent), increased visibility and control over expenditure (42.8 per cent), improved efficiencies (38.7 per cent) and enhanced data and analytics capabilities (36.1 per cent).
Louis Magliaro, executive VP of The BTN Group, said the lines between travel and meetings management are “rapidly disappearing”.
“Organisations want greater visibility, stronger control and a more strategic approach to spend, and that’s pushing these two functions closer together than ever before,” Magliaro said.
Need to talk about it?
Check out this Business Travel Show Europe session:
BTN Community: Strategic meetings management
Thurs. 25 Jun 2026 @ 11:00 Join fellow corporate travel and meetings leaders in this buyer-only session focused on strategic meetings management. Connect with peers working to bring meetings, events and travel into closer alignment. Share experiences, compare approaches and discuss what it takes to build visibility into meeting spend, strengthen governance and partner effectively with procurement.
REGISTER NOW
Business Travel Show Europe will take place at the ExCeL exhibition centre in London on 24-25 June, alongside the TravelTech Show and The Meetings Show. Registration is now open.