New Business Travel Show Europe insight shows cost is the biggest challenge facing corporate travel buyers in 2025
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As corporate travel managers globally prepare for 2025, there is one issue impacting them above all others – cost. Whether it’s increasing costs, the pressure to reduce them, leakage, airline pricing or budget restrictions – cost is king.
While airline pricing was the leading cause of many a travel manager’s headache over the last 18 months, this has been squeezed into third place by the pressure of increasing costs and ‘distribution’, which has risen from fourth.
New in for 2025 are leakage and data/reporting. Dropping out of the top ten are accommodation pricing and the pressure to be more sustainable.
The table below shows newly released data from Business Travel Show Europe and how it compares to responses in June and December 2023. Buyers were asked to highlight the three biggest challenges facing them in 2025 from a multiple choice of 34.
| 2025 (November 24) | 2024 (December 23) | 2023 (June 23) | |||
| Pressure of increasing costs | 28% | Airline pricing | 30% | Airline pricing | 22% |
| Distribution/NDC/One Order | 22% | Pressure of increasing costs | 29% | Duty of care/traveller risk | 22% |
| Airline pricing | 20% | Cost cutting | 21% | Hotel/serviced accommodation pricing | 21% |
| Budget | 19% | Distribution/NDC/One Order | 21% | Appointing new TMC | 20% |
| Cost cutting | 18% | Budget | 16% | Pressure of increasing costs | 17% |
| Data / reporting | 15% | Appointing new TMC | 16% | Globalisation | 16% |
| Appointing new TMC | 13% | Hotel/serviced accommodation pricing | 14% | Availability | 15% |
| Enforcing compliance | 13% | Pressure to be more sustainable | 10% | Enforcing compliance | 14% |
| Leakage | 13% | Duty of care/traveller risk | 10% | Keeping up to date with legislation and restrictions | 12% |
| Duty of care/traveller risk | 12% | Enforcing compliance | 9% | A change in my role | 12% |
The following table shows how the responses differ between travel managers in the UK, the rest of Europe and the rest of the world:
| UK | Rest of Europe | Rest of the World | |||
| Pressure of increasing costs | 30% | Airline pricing | 24% | Pressure of increasing costs | 35% |
| Cost cutting | 20% | Distribution / NDC / One Order | 24% | Distribution / NDC / One Order | 26% |
| Demonstrating value | 20% |
Pressure of increasing costs |
24% | Duty of care | 26% |
| Enforcing compliance | 20% | Budget | 22% | Airline pricing | 22% |
| Budget | 18% | Data and reporting | 22% |
Cost cutting |
17% |
| Distribution / NDC / One Order | 18% |
Cost cutting |
17% | Dynamic pricing | 13% |
| Airline pricing | 15% | Appointing new TMC | 15% | Hotel / serviced accommodation pricing | 13% |
| Appointing new TMC | 15% | Pressure to be more sustainable | 15% | Keeping up to date with technology | 13% |
| Leakage | 15% | Leakage | 13% | Budget | 9% |
| Hotel / serviced accommodation pricing | 13% | A change in my role | 10% | Demonstrating value | 9% |
BTN Group Executive Vice President Louis Magliaro: “2024 has been an unsettling year geopolitically with elections in the UK, US and France among others and wars continuing to rage in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. This has had a huge impact on the markets and costs globally have spiralled.
“It’s no surprise that travel managers are feeling the pinch or that it’s pushing sustainability further down the agenda for so many. ‘The pressure to be more sustainable’ has dropped out of the top 10 challenges overall and among respondents in the UK and the rest of the world. However, there’s no question we are all committed to travelling and managing travel more sustainably – we are seeing that through enhances to technology, access to data and investment in SAF, for example.
“While airline pricing was top of the challenges last year, the positive news is that we are beginning to see prices in key markets fall, and air capacity and competition is returning. It’s also interesting to see leakage joining this year’s top 10 – this was debated extensively at Business Travel Show Europe in June, as were all the key pain points and opportunities facing corporate travel managers. The show returns to London from 25-26 June. 2025 also sees the launches of Business Travel Show APAC from 16-17 April in Singapore, and Business Travel Show America in New Year from 15-16 October in New York.”
163 corporate travel and procurement professionals, EAs and PAs voted in November and December 2024. 80% of these were travel managers, 17% in procurement and 3% EAs/PAs. The geographical split was UK – 39%, Europe – 46%, RoW – 15%.
Business Travel Show Europe returns to ExCeL London from 25-26 June 2025 and will run alongside TravelTech Show and The Meetings Show to bring together over 700 buyers and 200 exhibitors for high-level, in-person networking and a premium conference programme. Registration for the show/s will open in March 2025.
