Business travel to UK cities outside London have seen higher levels of growth as “demand is increasingly spread across major regional business centres”, according to data from travel management platform Roomex.
The accommodation and expenses specialist found that travel bookings to regional UK destinations rose by 12.5 per cent year-on-year in 2025, while bookings to London only increased by 7 per cent over the same period.
While London was still the top destination last year, Roomex said that the next three cities in the top 10 list — Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham — collectively accounted for nearly the same travel demand as the UK capital in 2025, with the gap narrowing by 42 per cent year-on-year.
The next six destinations in the list for UK business travel were Northampton, Glasgow, Leeds, Dartford, Oxford and Cardiff.
Keith Watson, president at Roomex, said: “London is still the UK’s biggest workforce travel hub, but the story is no longer just about the capital. Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham are now collectively almost level with London, which shows how far business activity is spreading across the regions.
“For employers, this matters because workforce travel programmes need to reflect where teams are actually going. Project work, customer visits and operational travel are increasingly taking people to regional cities, not just head offices in London.”
This trend is set to gain more momentum as new UK prime minister Andy Burnham focuses on giving more powers to regional mayors, as well as setting up Number 10 North in Manchester as a regional office for his administration.