A recent Q1 2022 survey found that 84% of American business travelers expect to take at least one trip to attend conferences, conventions or trade shows in the next six months.
Less than one in 10 U.S. business travelers are uncertain if they would travel in the next six months, but the top reason for uncertainty was that meetings and events are not occurring, according to The Business Travel Tracker, a new monitor prepared by Tourism Economics for the U.S. Travel Association, in collaboration with J.D. Power.
Business travelers expect to resume traveling at a similar frequency as pre-pandemic, averaging about 1.6 trips per month, compared with 1.7 pre-pandemic, with about half of those business trips occurring for external purposes, such as meeting with people from outside their organization.
About one-third of business travelers are unsure or expect to travel less to attend conferences, conventions and trade shows in the next six months than before COVID-19. Nearly one-quarter of business travelers plan to take more trips to attend conferences, conventions and trade shows than they did pre-pandemic, and 28% expect to travel more to visit customers and suppliers. Only 17% and 13% expect to travel less for both purposes, respectively.
Nearly half of respondents say developing relationships with customers, suppliers and others is the most critical aspect of traveling to conferences, conventions and trade shows.
The Business Travel Tracker includes a quarterly survey of business travelers and the Business Travel Index, which provides a timely measure of business travel activity in the U.S. during the most recent quarter.
Click here for more information from this survey.
