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Travel Forum

Insights & reports

Measuring what business travel returns, not just what it costs.

A monthly white paper, original research and leadership interviews for the people who buy, finance and deliver business travel, with sustainability in every edition.

Flagship research

The Forum's research

Industry forecasts measure spending. WBTF research measures value: the revenue, relationships, talent and growth that travel makes possible.

MonthlyThe WBTF White Paper

The WBTF White Paper

Every month, one question that matters to corporate buyers and their boards, answered with evidence. Each paper is fully sourced and keeps the Forum’s analysis separate from third-party data. From 2027, papers will also start from questions raised in the Global Councils, draw on a short pulse survey of the WBTF Buyer Community, and carry a sustainability chapter.

  • Themes across the year: air and hotel pricing, payments, AI in travel management, duty of care, rail and ground mobility, visas and borders
  • Every contributing buyer receives a benchmark of their own programme against peers
  • Each paper can be developed with one research partner; editorial control stays with the Forum
No. 1 out now · November 2026Download No. 1 (PDF)
WBTF ReportThe Value of Travel 2027

The Value of Travel Report

An annual survey of corporate buyers and the chief executives, finance and HR leaders they report to, on the business outcomes linked to face-to-face meetings. It answers the question every board asks: what do we get back, and at what environmental cost?

  • Revenue, deal and retention outcomes from in-person meetings
  • The value of a trip set against its carbon footprint
  • Where companies plan to travel more, and less
  • Benchmarks by industry and region
Launch: Annual Meeting, November 2027
WBTF IndexGlobal Mobility Barriers Index

Global Mobility Barriers Index

A country-by-country ranking of how easy it is to travel for business: visa friction, air connectivity, digital and biometric readiness, safety and sustainability.

  • A clear scorecard for governments and destinations
  • Practical guidance for travel and mobility managers
  • Developed with the Council on Borderless Business
In development for 2027
MonthlyData of the Month

Data of the Month

The single chart every travel leader should see this month, drawn from airlines, analysts and research institutes, with the Forum's analysis.

  • Recent editions: business aviation flight hours, car rental rate forecasts
Read the latest

White Paper library

Download the series.

Every WBTF White Paper is free to download. Journalists may quote the papers with attribution to the World Business Travel Forum.

Cover of WBTF White Paper No. 1, A New Horizon

No. 1 · November 2026 · 28 pages

A New Horizon

How eight months of conflict in the Gulf reshaped business travel: flight disruption and jet fuel, how buyers adapted, the market response and three planning scenarios for 2027, with a ten-point action agenda.

Download PDF
No. 2The recovery cycle

No. 2 · December 2026

The recovery cycle

Rebuilding Gulf connectivity and corporate travel programmes for 2027.

Coming December 2026
No. 3AI and corporate mobility

No. 3 · January 2027

AI and the future of corporate mobility

Published ahead of WBTF Dubai 2027 on 3 February 2027.

Coming January 2027

Looking for earlier articles? Browse the Newsletter Archive, sorted by year and month.

The research cycle

Twelve papers, four round-ups, one annual record.

The Forum’s research builds through the year. Every paper is fully referenced, and the Forum’s own analysis is kept separate from third-party data.

Monthly white paper

Each month, WBTF publishes a paper on one force reshaping corporate mobility. Each paper sets out the data, the main expert assessments and the practical implications for buyers.

Quarterly round-up

Every three months, the monthly papers are consolidated into a quarterly round-up. It updates the figures, tracks which trends held and which did not, and adds input from the WBTF Buyer Community and Global Councils.

Full-year paper at the Annual Meeting

Each November, at the WBTF Annual Meeting, the Forum releases a full-year paper. It is a fact-based summary of the year in business travel, drawn from twelve monthly papers and four quarterly round-ups. It is a record of what happened, supported by sources, and not an opinion piece.

Market snapshot 2026

Two markets account for almost half of all spending.

The United States and China together represent about 48% of the forecast $1.71 trillion spent on business travel in 2026.

Brazil +13.8%Australia +11.5%South Korea +11.3%Türkiye +10.9%Japan +10%

Fastest spending growth among the top 15 markets, 2026.

United States
$423.0B
China
$403.7B
Rest of top 15
$603B
Rest of world
$280B

Rest of top 15 and rest of world are derived from the published totals ($1.43 trillion for the top 15; $1.71 trillion overall). Source: GBTA Business Travel Index 2026.

Latest from the Forum

News and analysis

Selected recent stories from the WBTF editorial desk.

Leader of the Month

Sergiu Les and Kirill Matalov, Roundtrip

The Forum's monthly conversation with the people shaping corporate travel.

Analysis

Keeping pace with prices: the 2026 Deloitte Corporate Travel Study

Spend is expanding because the same trips cost more, not because companies travel more.

Guide

Five steps to building a travel budget that reflects the true cost of business trips

A travel budget is a financial model of how an organisation moves its people.

Aviation

Air passenger demand slips 0.8% in August

IATA data shows global demand down year on year, but up 0.6% excluding the Middle East.

Policy

New coalition calls for EU rules that enable secure biometric journeys

ACI EUROPE, Amadeus, IATA, IDEMIA Public Security and SITA form a responsible biometrics coalition.

Sustainability

Ten years on from CORSIA, governments urged to strengthen aviation's emissions framework

IATA marks the anniversary of the landmark ICAO agreement.

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