Dive Brief:
- Business travel “is a major driver of economic growth” across the U.S., as it generated $623.8 billion for total GDP and supported 6.7 million American jobs in 2024, according to a new report from the Global Business Travel Association.
- Some 487.8 million business trips were taken in the U.S. in 2024, with business travel spending reaching $538.5 billion that year, up 7.5% compared to 2023, per the GBTA report.
- Business travel has a direct impact on U.S. hotels as the top lodging choice among the travel segment in 2024, the report detailed. However, global business travel optimism declined sharply in 2025, and weakened sentiment has continued this year amid concerns about geopolitical conflict and higher costs, GBTA previously reported.
Dive Insight:
In 2024, business travel spending accounted for $270 billion from domestic travel, $50.7 billion from international travel spend and $217.8 billion from meetings and events-related expenditures, according to the report.
Approximately 59% of trips were for transient business purposes, including client service and project work, while 41% were for group travel, including meetings and conventions. California, New York, Florida, Texas and Illinois led business travel spending in 2024, per the report.
Business travel “delivers value that reaches well beyond companies and travelers,” GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said in a Thursday statement. The spending “flows first to industries such as hotels, airlines, restaurants and ground transportation providers,” per the report.
Hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts remained the leading lodging choice of business travelers in 2024, used on 81.2% of business trips, the report found.
Despite a solid 2024, optimism across the business travel sector dropped in 2025 as a result of U.S. government actions, GBTA reported last July. The decline led more global travel buyers to cancel U.S.-based meetings and seek travel partners outside of the country.
Hotel companies later posted widespread U.S. RevPAR declines in the third and fourth quarters of 2025, with some CEOs citing weakened business travel.
In April, GBTA reported that pessimism among global business travel professionals had nearly tripled since the start of 2026 due in part to geopolitical instability.
“While 2024 marked a strong year for business travel and its economic impact, 2025 and 2026 have presented new and complex challenges shaped by rising geopolitical tensions, cost pressures and cross-border uncertainties,” Neufang said, adding that the organization will continue to monitor and report on evolving dynamics that affect the business travel industry.
