The 2025 Global Travel Managers Report by cvent has further discovered price rises for the sector will continue.
Globally, the responsibility of sourcing hotels and venues for business travel programs and events is coming together.
In 2017, 64 per cent of meetings and travel programs were or were about to be consolidated. In 2025, 91 per cent of travel managers say they are also responsible for sourcing hotels and venues for their organisation’s meetings and events.
And their sourcing responsibilities are extensive.
Conferences are the most common event type sourced (53 per cent), followed by training and workshops (45 per cent) and seminars (40 per cent).
The top reasons for consolidating the management of both programs under one job function are enhanced operational efficiency (49 per cent), cost savings (48 per cent), and ensuring attendee satisfaction (48 per cent).
A significant percentage (83 per cent) report saving costs by jointly managing employee travel and meetings/events programs, with 54 per cent saving between 5-10 per cent and 32 per cent saving between 11-20 per cent.
One cost management strategy is to coincide the timing of business travel with meetings and events (26 per cent). And it’s no surprise that this is a top choice, with 83 per cent of those who jointly manage employee travel with their meetings/events programs saying this consolidation has resulted in cost savings.
Some other plans to curb costs include negotiating lower hotel room rates in exchange for convenience (25 per cent), reducing the number of people traveling (23 per cent), and sourcing hotels across different brand scales (23 per cent).
With many companies prioritising financial stability and profitability, incentive trips (31 per cent), internal meetings or office visits (31 per cent), and company retreats (30 per cent) are expected to be the top business travel categories facing reductions.
The survey has found that in Australia companies are poised to implement substantial reductions in company-focused events. The two primary types of meetings facing cuts are internal meetings and office visits (50 per cent) and company retreats (38 per cent), the highest percentages of any region.
In Asia, cost pressure is more pronounced, with 76 per cent saying travel costs are increasing. That number rises in India, where 88 per cent expect increased costs. However, they’re ready to curb cost concerns, with 92 per cent expecting increased travel budgets.
In contrast to the global sentiment, North American travel managers say event and conference travel (37 per cent), trade shows (37 per cent), and incentive trips (37 per cent) are the top three events to be cut, with internal meetings (16 per cent) or retreats (11 per cent) least likely to be reduced.
In Europe, the most significant shift is internal, with 44 per cent of travel managers planning to reduce internal meetings and office visits. In contrast to North America, fewer European respondents expect to cut trade shows (17 per cent) or event travel (six per cent), indicating that external business development remains a priority.