People enjoy traveling. Indeed, they like it so much that most don’t care if they need to send a few emails, attend meetings, or listen to seminars during their trip. Work hard, play hard - that’s the motto of business travelers, who are happy to endure a morning full of meetings if it means they can spend the afternoon sipping margaritas in the sun.
Business travel statistics show that about 30% of job seekers are ready to accept lower-paid jobs if they include business trips. Companies are aware that employees enjoy these “bleisure” trips, and are in many cases willing to make them more comfortable with a lot of money for travel spending, accommodation, meals, and transportation. We’ve compiled the following stats and facts to show just how popular business travel has become.
Even though we live in a telecommunication-dominated era, face-to-face business meetings are still essential for building stable and continuous relationships with clients. No matter how easy it is for workers to make a conference call, communicate with colleagues via Skype, or attend a webinar from the comfort of your own office, companies still organize business trips for employees. In fact, the business travel economy has grown rapidly since the Great Recession, with spending reaching $1.6. trillion in 2020.
(Statista)
(Investopedia)
(Global Business Travel Association)
(Global Business Travel Association)
(Skift and TripActions)
International business travel statistics show that the US and China are the global leaders when it comes to business travel spending, followed by India, Indonesia, and Sweden. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the most expensive cities for taking business trips are New York and the two largest Swiss cities: Zurich and Geneva. However, while most countries are spending more on business travel, the UK is going backward; there was a 3% decline in outbound business trips in 2018 due to concerns about Brexit.
(Global Business Travel Association)
(Global Business Travel Association)
(ECA International)
(ECA International)
(Statista)
(Deloitte)
American companies understand the importance of investing in business travel. Whether for meetings, educational events, or conferences, Americans spend a lot of time and money on both personal and group business trips.
This spending is particularly heavy on the west coast. Indeed, the annual number of inbound business trips to the west is 7.5 million higher than those heading from the west to other parts of the country.
(Global Business Travel Association)
(Statista)
(US Travel Association)
(Global Business Travel Association)
(US Department of Transportation)
(US Department of Transportation)
(Associations Now)
If you’re wondering who makes these trips, the answer is not as straightforward as you might think. Men aged between 30 and 49 form the majority of the business travel population, but the number of women who travel for business is growing rapidly.
Travelers are growing up quickly too; 40% of millennials now travel for work, and many choose jobs specifically because of the opportunity to travel. Most millennials who travel extend their business trips to visit other cities.
(US Department of Transportation)
(US Department of Transportation)
(US Department of Transportation)
Millennials have now reached the age when they’re starting to rise to important positions in the workplace. They’re also known for valuing work-life balance perhaps more than any previous generation. That’s why it’s no surprise that millennials are strongly represented in business travel statistics.
(American Express)
(Hilton Hotels & Resorts)
(US Department of Transportation)
(American Express)
Business travel isn’t cheap. Indeed, when you take into account transportation, accommodations, food, and attendance at seminars, the costs add up. And most companies don’t choose cheap travel options. Companies spend a lot of money on business trips in order to provide the best experience to their employees.
(Business Travel News)
(JTB Business Travel)
(Certify)
(Certify)
(Certify)
(Certify)
(Business Travel News)
You might be surprised to learn that most of America’s business trips are made by car. Americans prefer to travel in their private vehicles when possible.
(US Department of Transportation)
(US Department of Transportation)
(US Department of Transportation)
(FairFX)
Work hard, play hard - this is the philosophy many business travelers now live by. “Bleisure” is a portmanteau that means exactly what you think it means: corporate trips that consist of both business and leisure. Just ask freelancers or remote workers, many of whom have taken bleisure to be their new lifestyle. The average corporate traveler in the USA lives the bleisure lifestyle by extending business trips so they can visit new cities and interact with different cultures.
(Forbes)
(Forbes)
(Booking.com)
Nowadays, people are willing to take lower-paid jobs if they include business trips as a perk. While some companies don’t support “shared economy services” like Airbnb and Uber, statistics show that most American business travellers prefer these types of services.
(Booking.com)
(Finance Online)
(Skift and Turkish Airlines)
(Skift and Turkish Airlines)
Business trips make up about 12% of total air travel. However, thanks to business class fares, they typically generate twice as much money for airlines as regular trips.
According to US statistics on traveling, 405 million long-distance business trips are taken each year.
With younger generations - especially millennials - looking for more dynamic jobs, more and more companies are ready to organize regular business trips for their employees. In general, sales representatives, consultants, and travel agents tend to travel most often. Professions like programming and accounting are typically thought of as desk jobs, but nowadays even those workers are getting the chance to attend trips and conferences.
People between 30 and 49 travel the most for business, and most of those travelers are men. However, the number of women of all ages traveling for business is increasing. About 40% of millennials travel for business.
Business trips are typically quite short. On average, 26% of business trips are only one day long. Of course, many people like to combine business and leisure by extending their business to visit other places, according to the latest business travel statistics.
Danica’s greatest passion is writing. From small businesses, tech, and digital marketing, to academic folklore analysis, movie reviews, and anthropology — she’s done it all. A literature major with a passion for business, software, and fun new gadgets, she has turned her writing craft into a profitable blogging business. When she’s not writing for SmallBizGenius, Danica enjoys hiking, trying to perfect her burger-making skills, and dreaming about vacations in Greece.
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