Corporate travel accelerates: business trips up 20%, Navan reports

Photo: Travel Daily News

Business travel activity rose by 20% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, significantly outperforming the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) averages, according to the Navan Business Travel Index. The data indicates that the corporate sector is recovering much faster than overall passenger traffic.

Navan, a global business travel and expense management platform that processes millions of transactions from more than ten thousand companies worldwide, provides a benchmark for analysing business travel dynamics. The Index helps organisations reassess their travel strategies and budgets amid the changing global economy.

Return to face-to-face meetings

The 20% surge in corporate travel contrasts sharply with the 0.6% increase in overall passenger numbers during the same period. Navan analysts note that business trips are becoming the key driver of the global travel sector’s recovery, highlighting the renewed importance of in-person communication for closing deals and building partnerships.

The report also points to a widening gap between travel spending and volume, especially on international routes. Over the past year, the difference across categories such as air travel, hotels, and related services grew from 7% to 12%, suggesting higher budgets per trip. This reflects rising costs for accommodation, transport, and event organisation, as well as a clear shift toward fewer but more meaningful business journeys.

Spending leaders and structure

The strongest growth in both spending and volume was recorded in the government sector — up 28% year-on-year. Financial services and the media & entertainment industries followed, each posting a 24% increase. The only category showing a slight decline (0.8%) was Client Entertainment, although the average spend per transaction rose by 9%, signalling fewer but higher-value engagements.

Ground transportation also strengthened its position. Spending on taxis and ridesharing grew by 20%, on public transport, tolls and parking by another 20%, and on black car services by 13%. These figures mark a return to familiar patterns of business mobility after years of remote communication.

Navan’s Chief Financial Officer Amy Butte noted that companies are intentionally investing in face-to-face meetings: “We’re seeing a deliberate strategy in which businesses make thoughtful investments in in-person interaction — to close deals, strengthen partnerships, and improve team performance.” The Index’s methodology was reviewed and verified by Nasdaq’s economics department. Nasdaq Chief Economist Phil Mackintosh emphasized that BTI has become a tool offering insights into corporate priorities that previously didn’t exist.

Global corporate travel trends

The picture outlined by Navan is consistent with other studies, though analysts generally describe global growth as more moderate. According to the Global Business Travel Association, total worldwide corporate travel spending in 2025 is expected to reach about $1.57 trillion, representing a 6.6% annual increase. This confirms the sector’s post-pandemic recovery, albeit at a slower pace than before 2020, with companies remaining cautious about their travel budgets.

A Deloitte study also highlights steady growth in corporate travel budgets in the U.S., alongside rising costs. Many firms are optimising routes and aligning travel policies with sustainability goals — cutting short-haul flights, adopting hybrid formats, and enforcing internal ESG standards. The focus is shifting toward strategically important trips — for negotiations, partnership development, and staff training.

Similar conclusions are drawn in Amadeus’s “Business Travel Trends 2025” report, which estimates global business travel spending approaching $1.64 trillion. However, the structure of this spending is changing: instead of numerous short trips, companies are prioritising targeted, carefully planned journeys that maximise the impact of personal interaction and strengthen business relationships.

Overall, expert data show that business travel is not merely recovering but transforming. Companies are returning to in-person formats while being selective — every trip must be strategically justified. Against this backdrop, business travel is emerging as an indicator of corporate confidence and a signal of renewed global economic activity. At the same time, growing demand for premium services and the blending of work with leisure are driving further expansion of the luxury travel segment.