Global business travel heads towards recovery

Worldwide, 29th August: The latest 2022 GBTA Business Travel Index Outlook – Annual Global Report and Forecast (BTI) showed the global business travel industry continues to recover headed towards to pre-pandemic spending levels. However, a full recovery is not expected until 2026 instead of 2024 as previously forecast.

The GBTA BTI is a comprehensive annual study of business spending covering 73 countries and over 40 industries. According to the study, total spending on global business travel was US$697 billion in 2021, 5.5% up compared with the 2020 figure. Due to the Omicron variant and resulting spike in global COVID cases in late 2021 and early 2022, recovery was slowed. Global business travel spending in 2022 is expected to reach US$930 billion, which is approximately 65% of pre-pandemic levels.