Cvent, the US-based provider of technology for meetings, events, travel and hospitality, recently published its annual Travel Managers Report for Europe. The latest edition reveals a high level of optimism among business travel managers. According to the report, 75 per cent of respondents expect their company’s travel volume in 2022 to exceed 2019 levels.

Various explanations were given. For example, the survey participants stated that

Companies are again prepared to undertake cross-border travel, the report finds. Almost 70 per cent of the business travel managers surveyed in the UK and Europe stated that their companies would in future carry out business trips both within and outside Europe. In contrast, only just under eight per cent plan business trips exclusively within their country.

Fittingly, the study revealed that companies wanted to increase their travel budgets. Business trips are again increasingly recognised as an important means of increasing turnover. According to the study, more than 80 per cent of respondents expect the budget per trip to increase in 2022 compared to the spending level of 2019. However, this is also partly due to the general increase in airfare and hotel costs.

According to Graham Pope, sales vice-president at Cvent Europe, the report’s findings demonstrate the “huge opportunities that exist for companies when they send their employees on trips again”. Engaging with customers and potential customers “face-to-face” helps them grow, Pope said.

More than 500 business travel decision-makers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands took part in the study, according to Cvent. The survey was conducted in April 2022 by market research firm Censuswide. You can download the full report here.