The first half of this year saw a rise in corporate travel spend in Europe, as more companies paid to send their employees on overseas business trips.
Corporate spend on airline tickets for business trips rose 1.7%, year-on-year, in the first 6 months of 2024, according to research by corporate payment specialist AirPlus International.
The actual number of airline tickets sold was up 1.6% on the same period last year.
Mads Krumhardt Enggren, CEO of AirPlus International, said: “Face-to-face meetings remain indispensable alongside virtual meetings. Despite adversities such as strikes and cancellations, especially at the beginning of the year, European business travellers were in the air more frequently in the first half of the year than in the previous year. They booked their flights earlier to ensure greater planning security. We are also seeing that the combination of business and private travel is becoming increasingly popular. Especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers, it is crucial for companies to offer their employees flexible working models in order to increase their satisfaction and productivity. The combination of business and private travel is an important building block for retaining talent in the long term.”
