Flight Centre Survey: Few Clients Plan to Cut Travel Budgets

More than eight in 10 firms count on their enterprise journey spending to extend or stay regular from now till subsequent summer season, in keeping with a Flight Centre Travel Group survey of greater than 1,200 of its company shoppers.

The State of the Market survey, carried out amongst FCM Travel and Corporate Traveler shoppers in June and July, confirmed 45 % deliberate to extend their journey budgets yr over yr for the 2026 fiscal yr, which runs from July 2025 by June 2026. For 9 % of complete respondents, these will increase are anticipated to be greater than 20 %, in keeping with Flight Centre.

Thirty-seven % of respondents mentioned their journey spending would stay regular yr over yr within the fiscal yr, and eight % mentioned they deliberate to cut back spending yr over yr for the fiscal yr. The remaining 9 % weren’t sure of their spending tendencies for the fiscal yr.

The outcomes had been barely extra bullish than Flight Centre’s shopper survey this time final yr, when 42 % of surveyed shoppers anticipated a year-over-year improve in journey spending for the fiscal yr.

The pattern for respondents within the Americas was just like the general trendlines within the survey. Among shoppers within the area, 47 % count on journey spending within the fiscal yr to be up yr over yr—9 % of complete respondents saying the rise could be greater than 20 %—and 38 % count on it to remain the identical, whereas 10 % count on a spending discount. Only 5 % of the Americas respondents weren’t sure of their spending for the fiscal yr.

“With macroeconomic challenges beginning to ease globally, the survey shows that customers have a more optimistic outlook for the year ahead,” Flight Centre Travel Group Americas president Charlene Leiss mentioned in an announcement. “Corporate travel is increasingly seen as a non-discretionary spend—a critical component of business success.”

About a 3rd of complete respondents mentioned greater than half of their journey spend within the 2026 fiscal yr will go towards conferences, occasions and conferences, a rise from 28 % who mentioned the identical final yr. In the Americas, a barely greater 36 % of respondents mentioned conferences, occasions and conferences will make up greater than half of their journey finances for the fiscal yr.