2025 Global Cvent Travel Managers Report
The 2025 Global Cvent Travel Managers Report, based on responses from 1,600 professionals worldwide, reveals strong optimism and evolving strategies in business travel. Despite global economic pressures, 84% of respondents feel positive about the current state of travel, and 75% anticipate increased travel volume this year.
Some of the Key Global Findings:
Travel managers plan strategic cuts to curb costs.
Rising travel costs are putting pressure on travel programs, with 71% of travel managers expecting costs to grow in 2025. To adapt, many companies are reassessing the purpose of business travel, cutting back on incentive trips, internal meetings, and retreats (around 30% each). Despite these challenges, 70% of travel managers are increasing budgets for 2024, and spending is projected to remain steady in 2025, signaling preparedness to manage cost pressures effectively.
Despite the influence of digital content, travel managers struggle to determine hotel suitability.
Travel managers rely on digital content to build smarter, more agile travel programs. The two most influential factors in their decision to submit an RFP are specifications, images, and video of guest rooms (48%) and images and video of the hotel (47%). Given that 26% reported spending more time using technology to research hotels in the last five years, it’s evident that compelling digital content is a fundamental principle of modern sourcing outreach.
Call it a humble brag, millennials emerge as the rising decision-makers.
Millennials, now the dominant generation among travel managers surveyed (54%), bring renewed optimism to the industry. They have undoubtedly adopted technology more quickly than older generations and are eager to leverage it for decision-making.
They are stepping more into leadership roles, and their influence will only grow in the coming years. Therefore, hotels, TMCs, and stakeholders need to adapt their strategies to meet the expectations of this emerging generation.
Downloand the full report here.