Business travel in 2026: Employees set the agenda for smarter, purpose-driven trips
Smarter, more selective travel is now the focus. Frequent flights to attend short meetings or low-impact events are harder to justify. Today, quality and purpose outweigh quantity, and being away from the desk needs a clear business rationale.
Shifts driven by cost, carbon, and culture
The change is partly due to carbon budgets and rising travel costs. But there’s more: as the 2025 Deloitte Corporate Travel Study shows, today’s business travellers expect trips to have purpose, leverage technology, reduce administrative burdens, and provide real care.
Mummy Mafojane, GM of FCM South Africa, notes: "The pandemic proved that remote collaboration works. Obviously, that’s not true for all sectors. Energy, mining and many others still need to move teams around the world, but, in the main, corporate employees now expect business travel to clear a higher bar: demonstrable value, reasonable conditions, and respect for their time and wellbeing.”
Big companies are shifting gears, cautiously
Despite increased travel spend – Deloitte reports three in four corporate travel managers reporting larger budgets this year – some large companies are quietly slowing down. About 20% of firms are spending more than US$7.5m annually on travel plan cuts, twice the number in 2024.
Even where budgets remain steady or grow, trip frequency is declining, particularly among frequent flyers. They aren’t abandoning travel entirely but are choosing which trips truly matter.
Mafojane adds: "Our latest ‘State of the Market’ survey shows that 46% of companies in EMEA plan to increase their travel spend. This is up from 39% last year. At the same time, traveller experience reigns supreme, and we’re going to see more corporate policies that diversify, balancing cost control with quality experiences.”
Flexibility is central, with organisations implementing adaptive frameworks to accommodate evolving traveller needs.
People want less admin, more purpose
Employees are not opposed to travel—they simply want it to be meaningful. Long flights for short meetings, especially when video calls are an option, are increasingly unacceptable. Business travellers want choice, control, and respect, not to be treated like walking expense reports.
1. Flexibility isn’t a perk. It’s the minimum.
"It’s not that difficult to accommodate a traveller’s needs," says Mafojane. "You can widen property selection by adding favoured hotels or serviced apartments into your travel programme, update traveller profiles with preferred airlines and travel times, allowing travellers more say in their journey."
2. Safe, sane, and not running on fumes
"Business travellers are pushing for acknowledgement that constant travel takes a mental and physical toll," Mafojane notes. "This means creating policies that limit excessive travel, mandate rest periods between trips, and provide practical support for managing family responsibilities. Treating frequent travel as a status symbol rather than a burden has become a recruitment and retention risk."
3. Tech that helps, not hassles
Travellers expect technology that works: simple booking tools, functional mobile apps, chatbots that assist, real-time updates, and 24-hour travel support when problems arise.
4. Make the trip make sense
Trips must have a purpose and allow downtime. Adequate Wi-Fi, productive workspaces, and straightforward expense tools make a tangible difference.
Better travel, fewer headaches
“Companies that recognise this shift have an advantage. They can build programmes that reduce unnecessary travel while improving the experience of trips that matter, creating systems and policies that employees trust rather than resent," Mafojane concludes.