J.D. Power, U.S. Travel Association, Tourism Economics announce new quarterly tracker to monitor business travel conditions as sector rebuilds from historic pandemic lows

WASHINGTON (April 6, 2022)—Key findings from a new survey reveal that 84% of business travelers expect to take at least one trip to attend conferences, conventions or trade shows in the next six months. The Quarterly Business Travel Tracker also revealed that, while less than one in 10 U.S. business travelers are uncertain if they would travel in the next six months, the top reason for uncertainty was that meetings and events are not occurring. Corporate policies restricting business travel was the second-highest reason for uncertainty.

Business travelers also expect to resume traveling at a slightly slower pace compared to pre-pandemic levels, averaging about 1.6 trips per month (compared to 1.7 monthly trips pre-pandemic).

The release of these findings corresponds to Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) on April 7, where organizations around the world spotlight the tremendous positive impact created by business meetings, trade shows, incentive travel, exhibitions, conferences and conventions on people, businesses and the economy.

Powered by U.S. Travel Association and the Meetings Mean Business Coalition, GMID has special significance this year as the meeting and events industry moves beyond the pandemic-era trends of virtual and hybrid meetings and returns to live, in-person events.

“The return of in-person meetings and events—and business travel in general—is a welcome sight after more than two years of pandemic-related uncertainty,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow. “There is simply no substitute for a face-to-face meeting, which is proven to lead to more fruitful business opportunities and can help power an economic and jobs recovery in communities across America.”

While U.S. Travel forecasts that business travel spending was still down 60% from pre-pandemic levels in 2021, the Quarterly Business Travel Tracker’s latest data shows a clear shift in American business travelers’ desire to return to in-person meetings. 

Source: J.D. Power

“While the data indicates a strong desire from American business travelers to hit the road again, there is a big difference between willingness to travel and actually taking a trip,” said Dow. “Corporate leaders should seize the competitive advantage, budget for business travel, and encourage their teams to get back on the road and reestablish those personal connections that only come with face-to-face interactions.”

Another component of the Quarterly Business Travel Tracker, a newly developed current and forward-looking Business Travel Index, shows that while business travel activity slowed somewhat in Q1 2022, business conditions for travel such as GDP and business investment are quite favorable, reaching an index of 105 for Q2 2022 (2019=100).

“In-person conferences have relational and financial impacts to corporations that are significant,” said Andrea Stokes, Practice Lead for Hospitality at J.D. Power. “Nearly half of survey respondents indicated that conferences, conventions, and trade shows are critical to developing relationships with customers, suppliers or others. Nearly one in four respondents indicated these events are critical to closing sales.”

Policies to restore business travel
Federal lawmakers can also advance policies to accelerate the recovery of the meetings and events sector. U.S. Travel Association is calling on Congress to enact policies to help revive business travel spending in restaurants and entertainment venues, while also urging the Biden administration to remove remaining travel restrictions to facilitate a faster return to international business travel.

Learn more
Please click here to see the executive summary of the business traveler survey and quarterly Business Travel Index and click here to learn more about Global Meetings Industry Day and how the meetings and events industry is observing this critically important day.

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About U.S. Travel

U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the travel industry. In 2020, travel generated $1.5 trillion in economic output and supported 11 million jobs, a drastic decline from pre-pandemic figures. U.S. Travel's mission is to increase travel to and within the United States. Visit ustravel.org for information and recovery-related data.

About J.D. Power

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies. J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business.

About Tourism Economics

Tourism Economics is an Oxford Economics company with a singular objective: combine an understanding of the travel sector with proven economic tools to answer the most important questions facing our clients. More than 500 companies, associations, and destination work with Tourism Economics every year as a research partner. We bring decades of experience to every engagement to help our clients make better marketing, investment, and policy decisions.

This research monitors the importance of face to face meetings as well as business travel performance and expectations. These survey results are among 2,437 business travelers planning to take at least one trip for business (including conferences, conventions, and trade shows) in the next 6 months. The survey was conducted March 3-8, 2022.

The Quarterly Business Travel Tracker and Business Travel Index (BTI) is an ongoing collaboration between U.S. Travel Association, J.D. Power and Tourism Economics. The BTI provides a timely measure of business travel activity in the U.S. during the most recent quarter, based on indicators such as hotel room demand, air passenger volumes, and arrivals of international business travelers. The business conditions leading index measures the context for business travel in the current quarter, based on forecasts of macroeconomic variables and other leading indicators.