Companies cautious on journey spending as commerce uncertainty looms

Firms are persevering with to spend on enterprise journey, however are being strategic about how they allocate these {dollars} amid ongoing commerce uncertainties, in accordance with new stories from the journey and expense platform Navan and the International Enterprise Journey Affiliation.

Company journey spending exercise elevated 15% yr over yr within the second quarter of 2025, in accordance with a enterprise journey index revealed Tuesday from Navan.

Navan’s index, backed by Nasdaq, is derived from hundreds of thousands of company enterprise transactions on its platform. It examines the quantity spent and variety of transactions referring to airline journey, resort reservations and expense transactions from company playing cards.

Amy Butte, Navan’s CFO, stated throughout an interview that from speaking with different chief monetary officers over the previous few months, she by no means received the sense that company leaders would cease spending on enterprise journey altogether. As a substitute, they’re in “wait and see” mode.

“Should you’re making decisions about the place you are being cautious, we’re not seeing individuals be cautious within the space of relationship constructing, both with their prospects or with their teammates. We’re nonetheless seeing the spend allotted in direction of journey as a key part of any enterprise technique,” Butte stated.

However whereas world enterprise journey is predicted to succeed in a brand new excessive of $1.57 trillion in 2025, in accordance with a Monday report by the International Enterprise Journey Affiliation, that complete represents 6.6% year-over-year progress, which is lower than the ten.4% improve that was beforehand predicted. GBTA cited commerce tensions, coverage uncertainty and financial pressures as the explanations for the extra reasonable progress.

A string of sentiment polls by GBTA additionally exhibits that company journey optimism for the remainder of 2025 seems muted. The share of respondents who stated they have been optimistic in regards to the total outlook for the enterprise journey business in 2025 dropped sharply from 67% in November 2024 to 31% in April and declined barely once more this month to twenty-eight%.

The findings from each stories, grouped along with commentary from airline CEOs final week, present C-suite leaders are nonetheless largely left in wait-and-see mode amid President Donald Trump‘s fluid tariff insurance policies, however corporations seem now to have a greater learn on how they are going to handle the uncertainty.

“Traditionally, company journey has been the very first thing, one of many best issues, to reduce if you happen to’re an organization,” Delta Air Traces CEO Ed Bastian stated in the course of the firm’s earnings name this month, including that company journey on the airline has been flat on a year-over-year foundation.

However Butte stated that Navan has not seen a drop-off in enterprise journey. As a substitute, companies are shifting how they’re spending.

For instance, Butte stated companies are persevering with to decide to particular person, face-to-face conferences, reasonably than spending on massive group outings. The Navan index exhibits that spending on private meals, which means one-on-one conferences held over a meal, was up 9.8% from final yr, whereas spending on workforce occasions and meals was the one class within the report that declined.

Navan did see some compression earlier within the yr within the share of higher-priced airline tickets bought that have been top notch or enterprise class, Butte stated, however she added that the platform has since seen an acceleration as uncertainty has lessened.

Airfare costs have additionally declined up to now this yr, which suggests enterprise and shoppers alike are spending much less on airplane tickets. Airfare fell 3.5% in June from a yr earlier whereas inflation total rose, in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang stated throughout an interview that CFOs haven’t minimize journey spending off completely, however are searching for environment friendly methods to get workers on the street. This may occasionally seem like reserving multicity journeys, scheduling a number of conferences per journey or reserving fewer journeys per thirty days, she stated.

Neufang stated the enterprise journey business has been targeted over the previous 5 years on ensuring each journey has a function and delivers a return on funding.

“Gone are the times when there’s actually frivolous enterprise touring,” Neufang stated.

When Delta reported earnings on July 10, Bastian stated he expects each client and company confidence to enhance within the second half of the yr, creating an surroundings for journey demand to speed up.

Delta and different airways noticed journey demand are available weaker than anticipated originally of the yr, particularly from price-sensitive prospects touring domestically. Bastian stated again in April that Trump’s commerce insurance policies have been hurting bookings.

Bastian took a extra optimistic tone this month, telling CNBC that company journey has stabilized as companies have extra readability and confidence than they did earlier this yr. However he stated company journey is according to final yr, not the 5% to 10% progress Delta anticipated at the beginning of the yr.

In the meantime, Delta President Glen Hauenstein stated on an earnings name this month that company journey tendencies are “uneven” and total company volumes are anticipated to be “flattish” over final yr.

United Airways reported earnings final week. CEO Scott Kirby stated in the course of the firm’s name with analysts that up to now this month, the airline has seen a double-digit acceleration in enterprise demand as uncertainty has declined.

Andrew Nocella, United’s govt vp and chief business officer, added that the enterprise site visitors progress is “throughout the board” and never restricted to any singular hub or vertical, which he stated displays lessening macroeconomic uncertainty.

Southwest Airways, Alaska Airways and American Airways are scheduled to report their quarterly outcomes this week.