Business travel optimism softens for 2026
Optimism across the global business travel sector has softened as the industry moves into 2026, according to the latest Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) poll.
The survey found 59% of buyers, suppliers and travel management companies (TMCs) remain optimistic about the year ahead - a decline of 12 percentage points compared to the same poll in 2025. At the same time, 31% of respondents reported a neutral outlook, also down year-on-year, signalling a more cautious industry sentiment overall.
Affordability remains the leading concern for travel buyers, with 70% citing rising costs as a key challenge. This is closely followed by difficulties around entry and exit requirements, including visas (65%) and employee safety (56%). While more than half of buyers (52%) expressed concern about TMC service quality, fewer respondents (42%) were worried about internal organisational support for their travel programmes.
From a supplier perspective, nearly half (45%) highlighted concern around the willingness of travel and procurement managers to review or change existing supplier and TMC partnerships in 2026.
Cost pressures continue to weigh heavily on travel programmes. The most significant challenges cited by buyers include balancing cost control with traveller satisfaction (59%) and managing prices that exceed budget expectations (58%). Operationally, buyers identified missing content within booking tools (46%), understanding and implementing AI solutions (46%) and travel leakage (39%) as top issues for the year ahead.
The online poll was conducted between 5–18 January 2026 and gathered responses from 571 GBTA members and non-members across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Respondents represented organisations with global, regional and local responsibilities, spanning a broad range of business travel spend profiles.
For travel management companies, these findings reinforce the growing importance of partnership, adaptability and value-led service delivery in 2026. As cost pressures, traveller expectations and operational complexity continue to rise, TMCs play a critical role in helping organisations balance control with care - from improving content access and tackling leakage to supporting duty of care and making sense of emerging technologies like AI. In a more cautious environment, collaboration and proactive programme optimisation will be key to delivering resilient, future-ready business travel programmes.
