The Economic Impact of Business and Blended Travel

This panel session at ITB Berlin 2025, moderated by Claudia Unger, brought together four industry leaders to examine the economic impact of business and blended travel. The panel featured Patrick Diemer (BT for Europe), Oliver Bransch (PwC Germany), Matthias Schultze (German Convention Bureau), and Fulvio Origo (GBTA EMEA) — covering corporate, policy, destination, and global perspectives.

The session opened with a sweeping quantification of the sector: GBTA's Business Travel Index puts global business travel spend at €1.3 trillion annually, with Europe generating approximately €390 billion. Europe's top four markets by spend are Germany (€80 billion), UK (€60 billion), France (€46 billion), and Italy (€40 billion). Patrick Diemer added that Europe alone sees roughly 500 million business trips per year, representing approximately €200 billion in spend — roughly 20% of all tourism expenditure. Germany specifically received one in every 10 international business trips globally in 2024, with each international business traveler spending approximately €1,500 in-country.

The panel addressed the 2020 COVID-induced disruption directly: Oliver Bransch acknowledged that businesses did adapt to virtual collaboration, but argued that the pandemic effectively stripped out non-essential travel and left behind a more purposeful, sustainability-conscious travel ecosystem. He emphasized that in-person interaction remains irreplaceable for major contract negotiations, new sales situations, client co-creation workshops, and relationship-building. Matthias Schultze made a historical and anthropological case for in-person gatherings, citing a Harvard University study concluding that 'moving brains is more important than moving bytes' — that tacit, experience-linked knowledge can only be transferred through personal encounters. He further highlighted that traditional business trips (visiting customers/offices) have stagnated or declined over 20 years, but event-driven 'promotable' business trips have grown significantly and more than compensated.

Blended travel — combining business trips with personal leisure extensions — emerged as a major theme. Fulvio Origo noted that 43% of European corporate travel policies now include blended travel provisions (as of October 2024 survey), a sharp rise from near-zero a decade ago. Matthias Schultze cited European Travel Monitor data showing 69% of European companies already permit trip extensions for personal reasons, with another 19% considering it. Oliver Bransch argued blended travel is a strategic tool for talent attraction and retention, particularly relevant as Gen Z and Gen Alpha enter the workforce demanding workplace flexibility. Patrick Diemer characterized it as 'a sweet hidden secret of business travel' — significant in volume (some studies show private attachments to business trips in certain markets reach 75% of all trips), yet almost entirely absent from European policy frameworks.

Policy gaps were a recurring concern: BT for Europe's top priorities are (1) a pan-European greenhouse gas accounting standard for business travel reporting, (2) reducing cross-border administrative burden — including the EU's own Entry/Exit System (EES), UK's ESTA requirements, and the A1 form requirement for intra-European travel. Fulvio Origo flagged Europe's fragmented regulatory landscape (27 different national directives) as a specific disadvantage vs. the US and Asia, where corporate travel managers face simpler decision frameworks. The panel also called for an EU-wide data framework, as current industry figures — even the headline €200 billion European spend figure — are estimates rather than measured statistics.

The session closed with a quickfire round: all panelists converged on harmonization, seamless cross-border travel, and embedding blended travel into corporate policy as the top unlock for European business travel's full economic potential.