The needle on business travel trends for 2025 has not moved too much since last year. Corporate travel resurgence in 2024 caught up with pre-Covid levels and Oxford Economics predicts that the global travel growth in 2025 will be as low as 2.85%. In line with this, prices are expected to increase moderately (1-2% globally) with small variances in some markets.
Saying that there are some changes afoot in the ever-evolving landscape that you can leverage to your advantage. Here are our top focus areas for 2025:
1. Supplier pricing stabalises
Unlike the unpredictable nature of leisure travel, business travel offers suppliers consistency and reliability, and there is value in leveraging these to your advantage.
Prices will not return to 2019 levels – so 2024 rates are the new baseline for travel budgets. Specific to South Africa, airfare prices are expected to increase by up to 4%. Car rental rates are likely to increase between 3-5% and average room rates could rise by approximately 2-3% across Africa.
Smart buyers recognise this moment as a chance to revisit negotiations with suppliers and highlight the strategic advantage of partnering with corporate clients. After all, wouldn’t you rather have a steady, reliable partner than chase unpredictable leisure transactions?
2. Bleisure travel remains a focus
Hybrid, “work from anywhere” models are here to stay. What has changed is that travellers expect a more personalised experience. For example, travel managers may need to adopt AI-powered booking tools that learn preferences and pre-populate bookings based on traveller patterns, personalise itinerary planning and implement real-time trip adjustments (in addition to the adaptation of flexible policies and duty of care tools).
3. AI-Enhanced Travel Management
While AI may seem daunting to address, many travel companies are already using it to streamline travel processes. Here’s how emerging solutions are currently reshaping corporate travel management:
- Online booking tools are making smart decisions, like automatically pairing flight, hotel and car bookings in compliance with corporate rates and policies.
- Expense integration provides direct folio billing, giving travel managers new levels of control over expenses.
- Dynamic rate monitoring systems optimise cost savings by continuously searching for the best rates.
If you haven’t implemented this technology in your program, just choose an area where you will gain the most value from digitisation and start there this year.
4. Sustainability-First Travel Programs
The expectation for business travel to play its part in addressing climate change is increasing. This is the year to set sustainability targets and implement carbon emission tracking. Businesses must focus more on meaningful travel. This includes knowing when to travel vs. when to stay at home, choosing the most sustainable travel options (like airlines that use sustainable aviation fuel or hotels that recycle), reporting on travel emissions and adjusting travel policies to support sustainable travel choices.
5. Travel risk management
As well as macroeconomic risks, climate change and ongoing geopolitical issues will continue to disrupt travel in 2025. Post-COVID, most companies should have travel insurance and processes in place to manage travel disruption. And if you haven’t yet, now is the time to:
- Implement risk assessment tools
- Integrate mental health support into travel programs
- More sophisticated risk assessment tools for different destinations
- Implement flexible booking policies that allow for last-minute changes
- Utilise travel apps to ensure travellers are kept up to date with changes and are easily accessible
By focusing on these key areas, travel managers can build a more robust travel programme and maximise their travel budget while focusing on the wellbeing of their travellers.