Cvent, an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, has officially published the results from its 2025 Global Travel Managers Report, which was structured to generate an insight into how sourcing, budgets, and business travel priorities are evolving worldwide.
Going by the available details, even with a rise in travel costs and all the ongoing economic uncertainty, business travel professionals are approaching the future with optimism. We get to say so because 75% of travel managers, across the global, expect business travel volume to increase in 2025.
Having said so, the report also found that business travel spend will likely remain pretty much the same in 2025 as in 2024.
More on the same would reveal how this particular report was prepared on the back of a survey, which entertained responses from more than 1,600 business travel professionals across six global regions and eighteen countries. This it did to explore expectations and behaviors around corporate travel.
For instance, one interesting detail emerged from the given survey relates to the fact that, as travel costs trend upwards, there has been a centralization of travel and meetings management, with 91% of travel managers saying they are now also responsible for sourcing hotels and venues for meetings and events (up from 64% in 2017).
The move is already paying dividends, considering more than 83% of those, who jointly manage employee travel with meetings and events programs, revealed that consolidation has resulted in meaningful cost savings.
Taking an even deeper view of Cvent’s report, it found a contingent of 69% respondents deeming event and conference travel as a core reason for travel, the highest globally, followed by networking (52%).
Hence, to mitigate the same, top events that are being placed on the chopping block, across North America, include event, conference travel, and trade shows. The stated reality marks a substantial contrast to the global view, which puts internal meetings, incentive trips, and company retreats at the top of potential cut list.
If we expand upon the global perspective, we would also learn how travel managers from that group plan to curb costs by negotiating lower hotel room rates in exchange for convenience (25%), reducing the number of people traveling (23%), and sourcing hotels across different brand scales (23%).
We referred to how more and more companies are shifting towards centralization of meetings and events, but what we haven’t yet touched upon is that cost savings (58%) and operational efficiency (48%) have been the primary triggers behind it.
Talk about shifts, majority organizations also reported a transition in their rate strategies as negotiations become more challenging. For better understanding, 57% of respondents said lack of flexibility is the biggest challenge in travel negotiations.
In a similar regard, 42% of travel managers in North America reported a preference for a mix of fixed and dynamic pricing. Despite that, 25% still rely on fixed rates, higher than any other region.
Rounding up highlights would be a pointer documenting strong technology adoption. You see, no more than 9% plan to reduce tech budgets, while 30% are spending more time using tech to research hotel partners.
Founded in 1999, Cvent’s rise up the ranks stems from its comprehensive event marketing and management platform, which offers a global marketplace where event professionals collaborate with venues to create engaging, impactful experiences. The platform’s specific offerings are understood to include online event registration, venue selection, event marketing and management, virtual and onsite solutions, and attendee engagement.
Cvent’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it serves, at the moment, more than 24,000 customers.
“In the face of economic uncertainty and shifting workplace dynamics, North American travel managers are demonstrating resilience and adaptability,” said Janine Alsalam, Vice President of Sales at Cvent. “These professionals are finding new ways to balance cost consciousness with lofty corporate goals, ensuring that business travel and face-to-face meetings continue to deliver value across their organizations. It’s also exciting to see companies bringing together travel and meetings, achieving impressive outcomes, with 83% reporting cost savings of up to 20%.”
