The number of business travel transactions handled by Travelogix¡¯ 90 UK-based TMC partners increased by 15.5 per cent in 2024, compared to 2023, but the average transaction value and average trip duration both fell.

According to the company¡¯s latest Global Business Travel Review, produced in collaboration with the Advantage Travel Partnership, monthly transactions in 2024 outperformed every month in 2023 except June. The anomaly was attributed to the likely impact of industrial action and the UK¡¯s general election.

Meanwhile, the average transaction value in 2024 was ?399.81, a decline of 6.88 per cent from ?429.35 in 2023, and lower also than the ?406.12 posted in 2022. Despite the overall drop, the monthly ATV got off to a strong start in 2024 ¨C up 7.14 per cent and 4.45 per cent respectively in January and February, to ?466.05 and ?454.19 ¨C before falling to ?385.70 in May and failing to surpass ?400 for the remainder of the year.

The report speculated that economic uncertainty and an abundance of caution following the UK¡¯s general election influenced business travel spend.

Travelogix founder and CEO Chris Lewis commented that 2024¡¯s increase in volume was at the lower end of what it had projected in 2023. ¡°The growth in volumes shows the desire is there for travel but with the average transaction value going down it suggests there¡¯s also a squeeze on budgets,¡± he added.

Also falling year-on-year was the average trip duration, from 6.9 days in 2023 to 4.6 days in 2024, although the advance purchase period remained almost static at 28.9 days.

¡°Despite some headwinds during the last 12 months, the travel industry demonstrated significant growth in 2024 compared to 2023 and a marked and substantial increase in transaction volumes underline this,¡± the report stated.

¡°The decline in ATV and trip duration suggests evolving traveller behaviours, possibly influenced by economic pressure, a realignment of corporate travel policies or shifts in leisure/bleisure travel habits.¡±

The breakdown of air travel bookings by cabin class also indicated a tightening of purse strings, with economy class tickets edging up from 78.99 per cent of booked flights in the first half of 2024 to 79.81 per cent in H2.

Premium economy bookings also increased marginally over the course of 2024, from 4.15 per cent in H1 to 4.33 per cent in H2, which dovetailed with a drop in business class bookings of 15.61 per cent in H1 to 14.69 per cent in H2, and a decrease in first class bookings from 1.25 per cent to 1.17 per cent.

Andrea Caulfield-Smith, managing director of global business travel at The Advantage Travel Partnership, said: ¡°We are seeing companies continually adapting their travel programmes based on numerous factors such as sustainability and economic pressures, whilst traveller behaviour is also adjusting.¡±

Caulfield-Smith added: ¡°The number of business travel trips is continuing to increase year-over-year but faced with rising costs, sustainability reporting and geopolitical tensions, travel managers are booking differently with less premium class bookings and shorter trips than before. Whilst there may be challenges along the way, we expect this to be a strong year for the industry.¡±

Looking at 2025, the organisations project a ¡°gradual stabilisation in transaction volumes, average transaction values and trip durations¡±. The report predicts year-on-year growth in transactions volumes in the region of 8 to 11 per cent, reflecting an ¡°ongoing rebound in travel activity and growing market confidence, signalling a steady climb towards pre-pandemic norms.¡±

The average transaction value in 2025 is forecast to hover between ?380 and ?400.

Some 40 per cent of Travelogix TMC customers are members of the Advantage Travel Partnership which have a predominantly SME clientbase ¨C although Advantage CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said noted that its members are winning increasingly more mid-market customers.

The organisations¡¯ latest report was based on 33.7 million records from 1 January to 31 December 2024, with an aggregate value of ?16.5 billion covering air, rail, hotel and car hire bookings.