FCM Consulting Report: 2024 Business Travel Statistics, Trends & Forecasts
The FCM Consulting Global Quarterly Trends Report is your essential intel on current business travel trends. With these business travel statistics to hand, you can move forward with confidence in how your business travel spending and travel programme could be impacted now and in the future.
Stay in the know on shifts in demand, impacting costs, business travel technology, and the changing traveller experience on business trips, such as NDC updates and supplier performance. Want to look back on past international business travel reports? Keep scrolling to view them.
What story does Q2-2024 tell us about corporate travel?
Global airline passenger demand is up 9.1%, the average hotel room rate is rising, and economic uncertainty underpins everything as we move into H2-2024. However, data shows that the first half of 2024 created positive momentum for the business travel industry.
Key takeaways from Q2-2024:
- NDC made up 21.5% of total transactions in June 2024
- Global fares rose by 15% for economy class and 11% in business class
- Hotel occupancy was forecast to reach 70% in July
- 11 of the top corporate airlines are forecast to exceed 2019 levels
Empower your travel programme with global insights and data points. Download FCM Consulting’s Q2-2024 Global Trend Report today.
Download for more Q1-2024 travel trends
Despite increasing demand, companies are not ready to increase corporate travel budgets. Business travellers are out on the road meeting with clients and colleagues, and budgets are being maximized with a combination of early bookings and more days away.
The economic outlook for the rest of 2024 is positive but faces some uncertainty due to a flux of geopolitical events. Regardless, the rising demand is increasing supplier confidence. Seat capacity is forecasted to increase +3.5% over 2019 from May to December 2024 (with North America leading the way at a forecasted +9% increase).
What happened in corporate travel during Q4-2023?
Even with a predicted +3% rise in global travel costs, business travellers who were ready to connect with clients and colleagues were still planning more trips.
Compared with the first half of 2019, the start of 2024 was predicted to offer 7% more seats in North America – good news for those eager business travellers – however, a significant drop in flights was expected. Take a look back at the Q4-2023 report.
Rewind to Q3-2023's corporate travel trends
The end of 2023 brought one thing to mind: airline seat capacity. Levels were just -2.2% of 2019 numbers, but predictions said all that would change in Q1-2024 when airlines around the globe were forecasted to add 71.8 million more seats – that’s +5.3% on the same period in 2019.