Business travel set for a comeback boosting western European economies in 2023

A NEW report released by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) on Tuesday, February 21 has forecast a sharp recovery of the business travel sector following the pandemic.

The European business travel sector was one of the worst hit areas of the whole travel industry during the pandemic, due to the transition to online work and the axing of business trips for the whole of 2020 and much of 2021.

But now, the GBTA says that western European countries are in the best position to recover pre-pandemic business travel spending as the sector begins to bounce back. In its report the GBTA explained that Europe was now “making up lost ground” with spending on track to rise 25.3 per cent during 2023.

The excellent data follows a strong recovery which began in 2022 with business travel spending increasing by an estimated 61.7 per cent thanks to the removal of border restrictions on travel.

Europe accounts for the biggest global portion of business spending at 20 per cent, although this remains seven per cent lower than pre-pandemic figures. Germany leads the market for the most business travel spending globally.