Business Travel in Europe: Statistics and Facts 2026

Business travel in Europe in numbers

Business travel covers trips made for work: client visits, internal meetings, conferences, trade fairs and incentive trips. Western Europe accounted for 23.4 percent of global business travel spending in 2024, and the region is unusual because much of its travel crosses short distances between closely connected economies. A manager can fly from Frankfurt to Paris in about an hour or take a train between Amsterdam and Brussels in under two.

The latest GBTA forecast shows spending growing strongly, but most of the increase reflects higher prices for flights, hotels and meals rather than more trips. Eurostat data show that EU residents took fewer business trips in 2024 than in 2019, even as spending passed its pre-pandemic level. Companies are also changing how they travel, with more rail, more combined trips and more attention to cost and carbon. The wider travel sector is covered in our global tourism report.

Global business travel: 1.47 trillion dollars in 2024

Globally, GBTA estimates business travel spending of 1.47 trillion dollars in 2024, up 10 percent, and forecasts 1.565 trillion dollars in 2025, up 7 percent. Growth is expected to continue at 8.1 percent in 2026 to 1.692 trillion dollars, then slow to between 5 and 6.5 percent a year, passing 2 trillion dollars in 2029. Western Europe accounted for 23.4 percent of global spending in 2024 and had reached 103 percent of its 2019 level.

Two trillion by 2029: global business travel spending is forecast to grow from 1.47 trillion dollars in 2024 to 2.02 trillion dollars in 2029.

The United States, at 395.4 billion dollars in 2025, and China, at 373.1 billion dollars, are by far the largest markets, together accounting for almost half of the global total. Germany ranks third in the world, ahead of Japan. The US picture is covered in our business travel in the US report and Japan in our business travel in Japan report.

European spending: 389.9 billion euros in 2026

In November 2025, GBTA forecast European business travel spending of 389.9 billion euros in 2026, or 448.2 billion dollars, up 8.2 percent. That implies about 360.3 billion euros in 2025. Spending is forecast to reach 414.5 billion euros in 2027 and 441.6 billion euros in 2028, an increase of 22.6 percent over three years. Western Europe accounts for 88 percent of the European total and emerging Europe for 12 percent.

Up 81 billion euros in three years: European business travel spending is forecast to rise from about 360.3 billion euros in 2025 to 441.6 billion euros in 2028.

The split between Western and emerging Europe matters for suppliers. Of the 2025 total, about 317 billion euros was spent in Western Europe and about 43 billion euros in emerging Europe, which includes Poland, Turkey and Central and Eastern Europe. Emerging Europe is smaller but in several markets growing faster, helped by lower costs and manufacturing investment.

Western Europe dominates: 88 percent of European business travel spending, about 317 billion euros, is in Western Europe.

Country markets: Germany 80.1 billion dollars, UK 60.2 billion dollars

Seven European countries are in the global top 15 for business travel spending. In 2025, Germany spent 80.1 billion dollars, the United Kingdom 60.2 billion dollars, France 46.9 billion dollars, Italy 40.0 billion dollars, Spain 26.7 billion dollars, Turkey 24.1 billion dollars and the Netherlands 23.7 billion dollars, according to GBTA. The top six Western European markets together spent 277.6 billion dollars, or 17.7 percent of global business travel spending.

Germany leads Europe: German business travel spending of 80.1 billion dollars is a third higher than the UK and ranks third in the world.

Germany owes its position to its export industry, its dense network of regional headquarters and its role as the largest trade fair venue in the world. Business travellers are a major source of demand for German city hotels, covered in our report on the accommodation industry in Germany. The UK market is covered in detail in our business travel in the UK report.

Market growth: UK up 14 percent, Netherlands down 1 percent

Growth rates in 2025 differ widely. The United Kingdom was the fastest-growing large European market at 14 percent, followed by Turkey at 9 percent and Italy at 8 percent. Germany and France grew 4 percent each, Spain was flat and the Netherlands fell 1 percent. For comparison, spending grew 10 percent in the US, 15 percent in India and 2 percent in China.

UK leads growth: UK business travel spending grew 14 percent in 2025, while the Netherlands declined 1 percent.

Because GBTA reports in US dollars, exchange rates affect these growth figures. A stronger pound or euro raises the dollar value of spending even if local-currency budgets are unchanged. Economic conditions matter too: weak industrial output held back German and Dutch spending, while strong services and finance sectors supported the UK.

The table puts European markets in context. Seven of the 15 largest business travel markets are in Europe, but together they spend 301.7 billion dollars, less than the United States alone. Germany is the only European country in the global top three, and the gap between the UK in fifth place and fast-growing Asian markets such as South Korea and India, both growing at 14 to 15 percent, is narrowing.

Air travel: European airline demand up 6.0 percent

Air travel remains the backbone of international business trips in Europe, even as rail takes share on shorter routes. According to IATA, international passenger demand on European airlines, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, grew 6.0 percent in 2025, with capacity up 5.9 percent and a record load factor of 84.1 percent. Globally, passenger demand grew 5.3 percent and the load factor reached a full-year record of 83.6 percent.

Full planes: European airlines grew international demand 6.0 percent in 2025 and filled a record 84.1 percent of seats.

High load factors matter for business travellers because full planes mean fewer discounted seats and higher last-minute fares, one reason spending grows faster than trip numbers. IATA said supply chain problems, which delayed new aircraft deliveries, added more than 11 billion dollars to airline costs in 2025, limiting how quickly capacity can grow. Airline data cover all passengers, so they show the constraint on seats rather than the business share alone.

EU business trips: 123 million, still below 2019

Eurostat measures the number of trips, not spending. In 2024, EU residents made just over 123 million trips for professional purposes, 10.3 percent of all tourism trips. Business trips rose 11.6 percent from 2023 but remained 1.3 percent below 2019. Business nights recovered more slowly: they rose 6.4 percent in 2024 but were still 8.0 percent below 2019, because trips have become shorter.

Recovery incomplete: EU business trips were 1.3 percent and business nights 8.0 percent below 2019 in 2024, despite strong growth from 2023.

Most business trips are short and close to home. Eurostat found that 75.6 percent lasted three nights or fewer and 72.1 percent were domestic. That combination, fewer nights per trip and more spending per trip, explains why spending has recovered faster than volumes. It also means hotels near offices and airports benefit more than resorts. Where Europeans travel for leisure is covered in our outbound tourism in European countries report.

Putting the spending and trip data side by side shows the size of the price effect. Western European business travel spending reached 103 percent of its 2019 level in 2024 in GBTA data, while EU business trips were at about 99 percent and business nights at 92 percent. In other words, companies were paying roughly as much as before the pandemic for fewer nights away. With about 1.2 billion tourism trips by EU residents in 2024, business trips remain a small but high-value slice of the total: one trip in ten, but a much larger share of hotel spending on weekdays and of premium airline seats.

Traveller behaviour: 3.1 nights, 850.70 euros per trip

GBTA surveyed more than 7,300 business travellers worldwide for its 2025 European outlook. European respondents reported an average trip length of 3.1 nights and an average cost per trip of 850.70 euros, or 977.82 dollars. Costs vary widely: trips from the UK averaged about 1,305 euros, while trips from Poland and Sweden averaged between 639 and 646 euros.

Travel still pays: 83 percent of European business travellers say their trips achieve business objectives, but only 40 percent are comfortable booking with AI.

Europe stands out for rail. 38 percent of European business travellers use rail, compared with 8 percent in North America and 4 percent in Latin America, reflecting high-speed networks such as those between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London. European travellers are also the most cautious about AI booking tools, with 40 percent comfortable using them, the lowest of any region. Loyalty programmes remain important to 81 percent. GBTA also found that 57 percent were less likely to combine business and leisure than in previous years, suggesting that the bleisure trend has cooled.

Meetings and events: Europe hosts 53 percent of the world total

Europe is the global centre for international conferences. ICCA counted 12,438 international and regional association meetings in 2025, up 10.8 percent, held in 162 countries and 1,603 cities. Europe hosted 53 percent of them. In the country ranking, the United States was first, followed by four European countries: Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. France was seventh, Portugal eighth and the Netherlands ninth.

European cities dominate the city ranking. Lisbon was first in the world with 188 association meetings attracting more than 100,000 participants, followed by Paris, Barcelona and Vienna. Prague, Copenhagen and London were also in the top ten. Italy hosted 616 meetings in 2025, down from 635 in 2024. ICCA expects more than 15,000 association meetings by 2030, generating about 18.54 billion dollars in delegate spending.

Trade fairs: 12.7 million visitors in Germany

Trade fairs are a large and specifically European form of business travel. According to AUMA, the German trade fair association, Germany held 304 trade fairs in 2025 with about 192,000 exhibiting companies, of which about 99,000 came from abroad. The fairs attracted more than 12.7 million visitors, up 1.9 percent, including about 2.8 million international visitors, and used more than 6.9 million square metres of rented space.

China supplied 18 percent of foreign exhibitors at German fairs and Italy about 11 percent, followed by the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Turkey. AUMA warned that forecasts for the first quarter of 2026 point to 2.3 percent fewer exhibitors and 4.6 percent less rented space than at previous editions, a sign that tighter company budgets are reaching the events sector.

Hotel rates 2026: Europe up 2.4 percent, Amsterdam up 11 percent

Hotels are one of the largest cost items for business travellers. The Amex GBT Hotel Monitor 2026 forecasts that hotel rates in Europe will rise 2.4 percent in 2026, a relatively stable year. Several cities stand out. Amsterdam is forecast to rise 11 percent, followed by Edinburgh at 5.7 percent and Barcelona and Milan at 5.1 percent each. Madrid is forecast at 4.8 percent and London and Zurich at 4.2 percent.

Amsterdam is the outlier: hotel rates in Amsterdam are forecast to rise 11 percent in 2026, more than four times the European average of 2.4 percent.

Paris and Copenhagen are forecast at 2.4 percent, in line with the regional average, and Warsaw at 2.3 percent. Amex GBT notes that tax changes and restrictions on short-term rentals, which push demand back into hotels, explain most of the larger increases. For companies, this means hotel budgets in 2026 should rise modestly overall but sharply in a few high-demand cities. Accommodation markets outside Europe are compared in our hospitality industry in Canada report.

Outlook: spending up, trips flat

The data point to a market where value is growing faster than volume. GBTA expects European spending to rise from about 360 billion euros in 2025 to 441.6 billion euros in 2028, an average of about 7 percent a year, while Eurostat shows that the number of business trips has only just returned to around the 2019 level. Hotel rates are forecast to rise 2.4 percent in 2026 and early 2026 trade fair data show fewer exhibitors.

Three trends will shape the next few years: the continued shift to rail on short routes, careful use of AI booking tools in a region where only 40 percent of travellers are comfortable with them, and the concentration of meetings in a small group of well-connected cities such as Lisbon, Paris, Barcelona and Vienna. Risks include weak industrial growth in Germany and the Netherlands, trade tensions that reduce cross-border deals, and corporate cost cutting. Europe as a leisure destination is covered in our ranking of the most visited countries in the world.

Readers planning travel budgets should treat the 2026 to 2028 values as forecasts. GBTA revises its outlook each year, and past editions have been cut or raised by several percentage points when economic conditions changed. The Eurostat, ICCA, IATA and AUMA figures in this report are measured outcomes for 2024 and 2025 and are less likely to change.

European business travel in numbers

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