Travel budgets are rising again this year despite corporate policies becoming stricter in many areas, according to a global study by SAP Concur.
The annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey of travellers, travel managers and chief financial officers (CFOs) found that despite the overall increase in spending within travel and expense (T&E) in 2025, there were now more “complexities” around the management of travel.
Despite global uncertainties over trade policies, the vast majority of respondents, including 93 per cent of travel managers, expect their organisation’s travel budget to increase or stay the same in 2025 compared with the previous year.
“According to this year’s survey, travel budgets are increasing, employees are willing to travel for business and they are open to chipping in for better travel experiences,” explained Charlie Sultan, president of Concur Travel.
“It may feel like business travel as usual, but there is more to the story. Travel policies are becoming stricter, travel frequency remains a pain point and employers aren’t meeting their travellers’ expectations.”
Nearly all travellers (97 per cent) said they were willing to travel for business over the next 12 months – largely contradicting perceptions from travel managers and CFOs that there was growing reluctance among their workforces about travelling.
However, 90 per cent of travellers said they would think about declining a business trip for specific reasons, such as safety or social concerns about a destination (40 per cent), health concerns (38 per cent) or feeling “burnt out” with travel (26 per cent).
Nearly half of travellers (49 per cent) did not think they were doing the “right” amount of travel, with 30 per cent currently travelling more than they wanted to, while 19 per cent would like to travel more frequently.
Recent aviation accidents, such as this month’s Air India crash, may also have affected respondents with 58 per cent of travellers having concerns about air travel safety, although 41 per cent said they would not change their travel plans because of this.
Policies becoming stricter
Most respondents (around 60 per cent) said that the tightening of travel rules was largely enforced through “small changes” imposed on all trips, such as being required to choose the lowest fare, not being allowed to check in bags on flights or cuts to room or flight upgrades.
Some 87 per cent of travellers said their company had cut back in some areas over the past year. This has included not allowing overnight stays on day trips (30 per cent), stopping travel in business or premium economy cabins (30 per cent), and not permitting travel for non-client purposes (28 per cent).
There are also signs of a backlash about so-called “blended travel”, with 25 per cent of travellers saying that their company has cut down on allowing them to add leisure travel to a business trip. Although conversely 27 per cent have started mixing business and personal travel to save money.
The study found that most travellers (85 per cent) would be willing to spend their own money on “perks” to enhance their business trips if not covered by company policies.
This includes spending on accommodation upgrades (38 per cent), extra hotel nights to avoid a long day of travel (35 per cent) and premium seating (30 per cent).
A similar number of travellers (84 per cent) are also taking money-saving steps to stretch their allocated budgets, such as eating cheaper meals so they spend less than their per diem or travel allowance, using personal payment cards or loyalty programmes to earn rewards and bringing snacks or leftover food and drink home with them.
For the research, SAP Concur surveyed 3,750 business travellers across 24 countries, 700 travel managers in seven key markets and 600 CFOs in six countries.