GBTA's 2026 Business Travel Index forecasts global business travel spending to grow 7.2% to a record $1.71 trillion, with trips reaching 1.84 billion, up 1.3%. The report highlights rising prices as the main driver of spending growth, while geopolitical uncertainty and transportation costs weigh on demand. The U.S. and China remain the largest markets, together accounting for 48% of global spend.
According to SAP Concur research, finance teams in 2026 face ongoing volatility, with 35% of CFOs citing poor cost management as a top internal threat. Leading organizations are shifting from reactive to proactive spend management, integrating travel, expense, and accounts payable, and leveraging automation and AI for efficiency. Adopting SAP Concur can reduce business travel and expense costs by 23%, increase policy compliance by 28%, and enhance forecasting confidence.
SAP Concur has released a 2026 leadership guide for CFOs, citing its trends research that forecasting agility is a top priority for finance leaders, while many teams still struggle with slow visibility and manual processes. The research shows 57% of finance leaders say they play an active role in shaping organizational strategy, but only 19% of CFOs have full confidence in their finance data. The article recommends a connected platform unifying travel, expense, and invoice data to improve compliance and decision-making.
A SAP Concur blog post aggregates surveys on how finance leaders are responding to tariffs, inflation, and economic uncertainty. It cites data showing 59% of business leaders say tariffs will negatively affect their organizations and 85% say tariffs have affected their planning; just 2 in 5 business leaders came into the year feeling prepared for market disruptions; and 37% of finance leaders cite geopolitical tensions as a top external challenge in 2025, up from 11% last year. It also discusses scenario modeling, AI-driven top-down forecasting, cost pass-through strategies, and supply chain adjustments, citing Gartner data that 48% of CFOs were considering supply chain adjustments.
SAP Concur releases 20 predictions for 2020, covering trends in economics, technology, travel, environment, and more. Predictions include small businesses tightening budgets, rising AI demand, super apps gaining traction in Southeast Asia, and traveler safety becoming a focus.
Based on discussions with Accenture, SAP Concur team presents five predictions for corporate spend management: increased risk but better compliance, smarter spend governance, travel no longer a guessing game, improved employee experience, and confidence in growth. Data cited: spend violations increased 292% from 2019 to 2020, and 84% of companies have growth goals.