Global travel prices are predicted to continue to increase in the remaining months of 2022 and throughout 2023, according to the 2023 Global Business Travel Forecast, published by CWT, the travel management company; and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). Patrick Andersen, CWT’s CEO, said “demand for business travel and meetings is back with a vengeance.” Suzanne Neufang, CEO of GBTA, said the forecast “marries statistical travel data and trend analysis with macroeconomic influences to provide a cornerstone reference point for corporate business travel planning.”

Among the projections:

  • Meetings and events: Prices have increased in all regions across most categories of spend, fueled by pent-up demand, a desire to build company culture and an uncertain economic outlook. The cost-per-attendee for meetings and events in 2022 is expected to be around 25% higher than in 2019, and it’s forecast to rise a further 7% in 2023.
  • Air: Business travel airfares fell over 12% in 2020 from 2019, followed by an additional 26% decline in 2021. Economy ticket prices fell over 24% from 2019 to 2021, while premium tickets fell 33%. Prices are expected to rise 48.5% in 2022, but even with this steep increase, they are expected to remain below pre-pandemic levels until 2023. Prices are expected to rise 8.4% in 2023.
  • Hotel: Hotel prices fell 13.3% in 2020 from 2019 and a further 9.5% in 2021; however, the report expects them to rise 18.5% in 2022 followed by an 8.2% lift in 2023. Hotel prices have already eclipsed 2019 levels in some areas such as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America, and are expected do so globally by 2023.
  • Ground transportation: Global car rental prices fell 2.5% in 2020 from 2019, before rising 5.1% in 2021. Prices are expected to increase 7.3% in 2022, hitting new highs, and rise a further 6.8% in 2023.