Navan and Skift released the eighth annual business travel and expense report; 58% of travelers expect to travel more in 2027, and 87% of travelers and 89% of travel and finance managers consider business travel essential or necessary.
Why recommended:The report uses data from the same group of respondents to compare the perception gaps between travelers and managers on disruptions, reimbursement, and off-platform booking, which can help travel procurement teams calibrate priorities.
Expedia Group reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, with gross bookings of $34.008 billion, up 11% year over year, and revenue of $4.938 billion, up 12% year over year.
Why recommended:The earnings disclosure shows B2B gross bookings grew 19% and revenue grew 23%, which can be used to observe the growth rate and structural changes of corporate travel distribution channels.
GBTA forecasts that 2026 European business travel spending will reach €404 billion ($453.9 billion), up 7.0% year on year, with about 600 million business travel trips originating in Europe, growing only 0.7%. Global business travel spending is expected to grow 7.2% to €1.52 trillion, with trips growing 1.3%, and Europe accounting for 27% of global business travel spending. Germany ranks first in Europe with €79.9 billion, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain; together the five countries account for about 62% of Europe's 2026 business travel spending.
Why recommended:GBTA forecasts that European business travel spending will grow far faster than trip volume, which readers can use to understand the divergence between corporate travel budgets and travel frequency.
A joint survey by GBTA and Cvent shows that 62% of travel managers believe their teams are understaffed, with that proportion rising to 68% among programs with annual travel spend of more than $30 million. Travel programs have an average of 4.9 full-time employees devoting at least 75% of their time, with a median of only 3 people; 36% of travel programs sit within procurement departments and 23% within finance. The survey also shows that 39% of travel buyers believe travel and meetings functions are more integrated than before, and 28% of respondents say travel teams themselves are driving AI transformation.
Why recommended:The survey provides benchmark data on travel team staffing, functional reporting lines, and travel-meetings integration that can be used to compare against one's own team structure.
An unauthorized access incident occurred in a system operated by Amadeus, with multiple airlines reporting that passenger booking data was exposed, and some cases involving passport numbers and contact details. Cathay Pacific said the unauthorized party used credentials assigned to an Amadeus system account to access booking data, and the access time spans disclosed by Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific range from August 2023 to September 2026.
Why recommended:Multiple airlines disclosed that the same Amadeus system account was accessed without authorization, allowing readers to understand the scope of the incident and the airlines' disclosure wording.
The GBTA Foundation's 2026 Sustainable Acceleration Challenge, based on data from 204 companies in 28 countries, found that the average corporate travel sustainability maturity score rose from 1.4 in 2025 to 1.5, marking a third consecutive year of slight improvement.
Why recommended:Three-year benchmark data from 204 companies show that sustainable procurement and decarbonization investment are advancing, while emissions tracking and booking tool adoption have stalled, which can be used to identify weak points in travel sustainability programs.
IATA released global passenger data for September 2026: total demand measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell 0.5% year-on-year, total capacity (ASK) fell 0.2%, and the load factor was 83.2%, down 0.3 percentage points year-on-year.
Why recommended:IATA's global passenger demand turned negative year-on-year in September; the regional divergence data can serve as a reference for corporate travel budgets and route negotiations.
SAP Concur's eighth global business travel survey shows that 60% of surveyed CFOs say corporate travel expense fraud is increasing, and 92% of CFOs believe employees may use AI to falsify travel expenses or receipts, up from 84% in 2025.
Why recommended:The survey shows that expense fraud and employees actively not reporting legitimate expenses exist simultaneously, which readers can use to understand why expense data is incomplete.
IATA released the 2026 Global Passenger Survey: 58% of passengers experienced biometrics at airports in the past 12 months, up from 50% in 2025, with satisfaction with biometrics reaching 87%. 49% of passengers have used AI to plan travel, of which 21% used it to search for flights to a specific destination; 43% of passengers abandoned a destination due to entry requirements, up from 33% in 2025, of which 53% considered the process too complex. The survey is based on more than 10,000 responses from over 200 countries.
Why recommended:The IATA 2026 Global Passenger Survey shows that biometric usage and entry-requirement obstacles are rising in tandem, which can be used to assess the room for advancing airport processes and visa digitalization.
IATA data shows that in 2025 global airlines will incur $24.5 billion in payment costs on $1.05 trillion in sales, up 10.4% from 2023, higher than the 7.7% increase in sales over the same period. The average cost per transaction is $5 per passenger, of which payment fees of $20.7 billion account for 84.5%, and the average card payment rate is 2.53%. IATA is promoting payment efficiency improvements through IATA Pay, IFG and a new corporate travel payment solution.
Why recommended:IATA data reveals that payment costs are growing faster than sales, and provides specific comparisons of card payment rates and alternative payment solutions.
Accor's Q3 2026 RevPAR rose 4.9% year on year, with revenue of €1.503 billion, up 7.7% at constant exchange rates. In the quarter it opened 63 hotels and nearly 9,000 rooms, net unit growth over the past 12 months was 3.0%, and it raised its full-year recurring EBITDA guidance to €1.270–1.285 billion. RevPAR in the Luxury & Lifestyle division grew 8.3%; in the Middle East, affected by conflict, UAE RevPAR was still down about 20% year on year.
Why recommended:Accor's Q3 results give specific figures for RevPAR, rooms opened and the raised full-year EBITDA guidance, which can be used to observe trends in hotel supply and business travel demand.
IHG Hotels & Resorts released its third-quarter trading update for the period ended September 30, 2026, with global RevPAR up 5.3% year on year, including growth of 6.8% in the Americas, 5.0% in EMEAA, and a decline of 3.3% in Greater China.
Why recommended:The source provides IHG's third-quarter global and regional RevPAR, signings and openings data, allowing comparison of weakening demand in Greater China with growth in other regions.
Amadeus Travel Intelligence analysis shows that during the 2026 Asia tours of BTS and BIGBANG, flight bookings to Nagoya increased 100% year on year, Singapore rose 62%, and Bangkok rose 41%.
Why recommended:Amadeus uses flight booking and hotel occupancy data from concert windows to quantify the short-term boost that large-scale performances bring to travel demand for Asian destinations.
The US Bureau of Transportation Statistics released the Transportation Consumer Price Index for September 2026. The CPI for transportation goods and services rose 7.9% from September 2025 to September 2026, contributing 35.4% to the 3.7% price increase for all goods and services.
Why recommended:The US transportation CPI rose 7.9% year-on-year; the gasoline and airfare sub-index data can serve as a reference for corporate travel costs and budget adjustments.
IATA, Airbus and Accenture released a market study on SAF Environmental Attribute Certificates (EAc), estimating that corporate procurement could support 1 million to 1.9 million tonnes of SAF by 2030, up from about 323,000 tonnes in 2024.
Why recommended:IATA, Airbus and Accenture jointly estimated the potential corporate demand for SAF and listed three categories of obstacles constraining corporate participation.
Hotel technology platform Operto released a global benchmark study, based on a 31-day window from May 22 to June 21, 2026 in the Google Ads Transparency Center, identifying approximately 1.1 million predatory ads targeting brand searches, covering 204,000 hotels in 205 countries, with targeted hotels facing an average of 3.9 competitor ads.
Why recommended:The study quantified the scale and source concentration of third-party interception of brand keywords, and provided the transmission path to direct booking costs and front desk operations.
GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang shared the latest data at the business travel digitalization summit: global business travel spending is expected to be slightly above $1.7 trillion in 2026, grow about 6% to about $1.8 trillion in 2027, and exceed $2 trillion by 2030; however, trip volume in 2026 is expected to be only 1.84 billion trips, an increase of slightly above 1%, with spending growth clearly faster than trip volume.
Why recommended:The GBTA data provides the judgment that spending growth continues to outpace trip volume growth, based on which readers can understand the logic shift in travel management from price control to total cost and ROI measurement.
GBTA released research at the LATAM Conference 2026 in Mexico City, forecasting Latin America business travel spending to reach $67.7 billion in 2026, a year-over-year increase of about 11%, one of the highest regional growth rates globally; growth is expected to slow to 3.3% in 2027.
Why recommended:GBTA provided a forecast for Latin America business travel spending in 2026 and a judgment of slowdown in 2027, along with data on major countries' spending and Mexico City's economic contribution.
IATA released global passenger demand data for August 2026. Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), fell 0.8% year-on-year; excluding the Middle East, it grew 0.6%. Total capacity (ASK) rose 0.3% year-on-year, and the load factor was 85.1%, down 0.9 percentage points year-on-year; Middle East carriers' demand fell 14.6% year-on-year, interrupting the previous improving trend.
Why recommended:IATA's August data show Middle East carriers' demand fell 14.6% year-on-year, dragging global RPK into negative territory, which can be used to observe regional divergence and October capacity arrangements.
The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) released data showing that the average U.S. domestic airfare in the second quarter of 2026 was $445, up 2.0% from the inflation-adjusted $436 in the first quarter of 2026. By trip type, one-way tickets accounted for 45%, with an average price of $312; round-trip tickets accounted for 55%, with an average price of $549. BTS also stated that starting from the third quarter of 2025, airfare sampling changed from 10% to 40% (the OD40 program); previously, fares were still based on 10% sampling, and because multiple airlines resubmitted data, the data released this time has been updated.
Why recommended:The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics announced that the average domestic airfare in the second quarter of 2026 was $445, and explained the impact of the sampling change from 10% to 40% on data comparability.