Employees increasingly see business travel as personally valuable, even as the experience itself becomes more stressful and unpredictable, according to the eighth annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey, conducted among 3,300 business travelers across 21 global markets.

Among the findings: 

• 93% of business travelers say work travel benefits their mental or physical well-being. Top benefits of business travel cited:
  • 45% say it provides a break from their normal environment; 
  • 44% say the change of scenery helps them mentally recharge; 
  • 36% say it enables meaningful in-person connection;  
  • 30% say it provides a break from family or personal obligations. 
  • Parents are more likely than non-parents to say business travel provides:
    • A break from family/personal obligations (33% vs. 26%); 
    • Access to hotel wellness amenities (33% vs. 25%); 
    • Fitness opportunities they don’t normally have (22% vs. 14%). 

At the same time, travel anxiety is rising: 

• 67% of business travelers say they feel nervous about traveling for work this year:
  • 31% cite safety concerns around traveling to areas affected by geopolitical conflicts or tension; 
  • 28% cite the likelihood of travel disruptions, such as flight delays or cancellations; 
  • 16% cite concerns over visas, immigration status and digital IDs. 

The report also highlights growing pressure on employers to support and protect travelers: 

• 87% of travel managers are concerned that their business isn’t doing enough to protect employee safety while traveling; 
• 27% of business travelers hold their employer most accountable while traveling for work, up from 18% when a similar question was asked in 2020; 
• 58% of business travelers are confident that their organization could extract them if they were trapped in a country due to a dangerous situation or emergency; 
• 79% of business travelers say they are at least somewhat comfortable with their organization tracking their location for safety purposes during business trips.