Corporate travel budgets are growing. But that doesn’t necessarily mean businesses are travelling more.
The latest industry forecasts point to an important shift: the gap between how much organisations are spending and how much they are actually travelling is widening.
According to the 2026 GBTA Business Travel Index, global business travel spending is forecast to increase by 7.2% in 2026, reaching a record US$1.71 trillion.
The number of business trips, however, is forecast to grow by just 1.3% to approximately 1.84 billion.
For Australian businesses, the numbers are even more significant. Australia is forecast to record 11.5% growth in business travel spending in 2026, making it one of the fastest-growing major business travel markets globally.
More money going into travel doesn’t necessarily mean more travel is taking place.
And that makes understanding where your travel budget is going more important than ever.
The difference between spending and trip growth reflects a corporate travel market being shaped by higher transportation costs, energy prices, capacity constraints, geopolitical uncertainty and continued demand.
The 2027 Global Business Travel Forecast from GBTA and ALTOUR expects travel prices to remain elevated through the remainder of 2026, before growth begins to moderate in 2027.
Globally, average airfares are forecast to increase 4.7% in 2026, while hotel average daily rates are expected to rise 3.7% and car rental rates by 3.6%.
Importantly, slower price growth doesn’t necessarily mean lower prices.
For corporate travel programmes, waiting for prices to return to previous levels isn’t a strategy. The focus needs to turn to what can be controlled.
A year-on-year increase in travel spend is easy to identify. Understanding why it increased is much more valuable.
Was it higher average airfares? A change in destination mix? Later bookings? Hotel rate increases? More international travel? Lower online adoption? Increased change and cancellation costs?
Or did the business genuinely travel more?
Two organisations can experience the same 10% increase in travel spend for completely different reasons. Without visibility beneath the headline number, it’s difficult to know whether that increase represents necessary business activity, changing market conditions or an opportunity to manage spend differently.
Rather than reviewing total spend in isolation, businesses should be looking at measures such as average ticket price, average hotel rate, advance purchase behaviour, booking patterns, route and destination trends, supplier performance and policy compliance.
The objective isn’t simply more reporting. It’s identifying where the opportunities are to make better decisions.
“Many organisations see travel spend increasing and immediately assume it’s a volume issue, when often the real story sits beneath the headline number. The most effective travel programmes are those that understand not only what they’re spending, but why they’re spending it.
At Orbit, we help clients turn travel data into actionable insights, identifying trends in traveller behaviour, supplier performance, policy compliance and booking practices so they can make informed decisions and maximise the value of every travel dollar.”
Matt Burris
Head of Account Management, Orbit World Travel
Not every cost increase can be negotiated away. Airline capacity, fuel prices, hotel demand and geopolitical events sit largely outside the control of an individual corporate travel programme.
Booking behaviour doesn’t.
Employees consistently booking close to departure can mean paying more for the same trip. Travellers booking outside preferred channels can reduce access to negotiated arrangements and visibility over spend. And policies that haven’t kept pace with market conditions may no longer support the organisation’s objectives.
The answer isn’t necessarily to travel less. It’s to become more deliberate about how travel is purchased and managed.
When budgets come under pressure, the instinctive response can be to reduce travel.
But businesses travel for a reason: to meet customers, build relationships, develop teams, manage operations, enter new markets and progress strategic projects.
The better question isn’t necessarily:
How do we spend less on travel?
It’s:
How do we get greater value from the travel we’re already doing?
“The most successful travel programmes aren’t measured by bookings alone. They’re measured by the visibility they provide, the decisions they enable and the confidence they give organisations in managing risk, spend, compliance and traveller wellbeing.”
Lisa Story
Founder & Managing Director, Orbit World Travel
Cost optimisation looks at the travel programme as a whole. Are trips being booked through the right channels? Are supplier agreements competitive? Does policy support business objectives? Is data being used to identify opportunities?
It also recognises that value isn’t always represented by the lowest available fare or hotel rate. Flexibility, traveller productivity, service, risk, booking conditions and the purpose of the trip all form part of the equation.
As the cost of individual trips increases, gaps in programme visibility become more expensive.
A business may know its annual travel spend has increased, but without accurate, consolidated data, it may not know whether that increase is being driven by market pricing, booking behaviour, changing travel patterns or leakage outside the programme.
This is where the role of a travel management company extends well beyond processing bookings.
At Orbit World Travel, we work with clients to understand what’s happening within their travel programme, identify the factors influencing spend and determine where meaningful opportunities exist.
Through consolidated reporting and analytics, supplier insights, benchmarking, policy reviews and ongoing account management, travel data becomes a decision-making tool rather than simply a historical record.
Because knowing why you spent it, where it’s changing and what you can do next is far more valuable than simply knowing what you spent.
The outlook for business travel remains positive, but the economics surrounding that travel are changing.
For travel managers and procurement teams, the challenge will be balancing continued demand with an environment where each trip may cost more.
That requires visibility, informed decisions and a travel programme capable of responding as conditions change.
If your travel spend is increasing, the first question shouldn’t simply be “how much?”
It should be:
“Do we know why?”
And if the answer isn’t immediately clear, that’s where the opportunity starts.
Orbit World Travel helps organisations turn travel data into practical insights, identifying opportunities across policy, supplier performance, traveller behaviour and programme spend.
If you’d like to understand what’s driving your travel costs and where opportunities may exist within your programme, speak with the Orbit World Travel team.
1800 067 819 | sa***@*********el.au
Sources: GBTA 2026 Business Travel Index;
GBTA & ALTOUR 2027 Global Business Travel Forecast.
