Dive Brief:
- Optimism among business travel industry professionals has weakened considerably since the start of the year amid escalating geopolitical conflicts and higher costs, according to new findings from the Global Business Travel Association.
- Currently, 41% of business travel professionals say they are optimistic about the state of the industry in 2026, though that is down from 59% in January, according to a GBTA survey that polled 539 corporate travel managers, travel suppliers and intermediaries from March 25 to April 8 across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Meanwhile, pessimism among business travel professionals has nearly tripled in recent months, rising from 9% in January to 24% in April.
- Geopolitical instability has become “the most significant external risk influencing business travel decisions in 2026,” according to GBTA. As rising concerns reshape meetings and events planning this year, the U.S. hospitality industry could be negatively impacted.
Dive Insight:
The leading concern among global business travel professionals is geopolitical uncertainty and conflict, particularly as tensions mount in Iran and the Middle East. This travel-related risk is having tangible impacts on industry leaders’ outlooks and operations, according to GBTA.
Some 76% of buyers said geopolitical conflicts are having a moderate or significant impact on their organization’s business travel and meetings decisions, while travel suppliers reported an even greater impact, with more than 83% noting these conflicts are materially affecting their customers, per the survey.
Other top concerns among business travel professionals are the affordability of business travel and employee safety while traveling, according to the survey.
As organizations adapt to “rising costs, operational friction and escalating geopolitical tensions,” they are “reshaping how, where and why they travel,” GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said in a statement.
According to the survey, more than half of buyers (56%) said their organization has changed its meetings or events strategy in the past three months. For example, 26% of buyers have shifted some meetings or events to virtual formats, while another 24% have canceled meetings or events altogether.
Meanwhile, more than a third of buyers (38%) said they are less likely to host multinational meetings in the U.S. than they were six months ago.
A decline in U.S. meetings and events could potentially negatively impact the domestic hotel industry. Following weakened business travel sentiment last year — a result of U.S. policy shifts under the Trump administration — hotel companies reported widespread U.S. RevPAR declines in the third and fourth quarters of 2025, with some citing dampened business travel.
According to the GBTA survey, more buyers now expect their business travel volume to decline in 2026 as compared to January. And while 30% expect the number of business trips taken at their organization to increase in 2026, that percentage is down from 35% in January.
Despite more business travel professionals expecting trip volume to decline, roughly 43% of buyers anticipate travel spending to increase this year, a similar percentage to January levels, per the survey.
