65% corporates expect a surge in business travel volumes in 2026: Travel report
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The survey reports that over 70% adopting tech-led solutions for booking, approvals & expense management, while 68% corporates see growing Bleisure trend, and 62% focus on value-driven decisions balancing cost, safety & compliance.
Thomas Cook (India) Limited and its group company, SOTC Travel, have released the inaugural edition of their Business Travel Report 2026, offering insights into the evolving priorities, patterns and pressures shaping business travel across India.
The key observations of 2026 Report 2026 include Business travel demand remains resilient as nearly 65% of corporates expect their business travel volumes to increase over the next 12 months, while 30% expect it to remain stable. Only 5% anticipate a decline, resulting in 95% of respondents projecting stable-to-growth spend, underlining travel’s continued role in driving growth, client engagement and business continuity; Over 70% of corporates are relying more on digital tools for booking, approvals, expense management and MIS reporting, enabling improved visibility, policy compliance and data-backed decision-making across business travel programs; Over 62% of respondents highlighted a move towards value-led travel decisions. This has elevated the role of managed travel programs and strategic travel partners.
The survey conducted over a two-month period, is based on responses received from over 25 leading enterprises across sectors including BFSI, manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, conglomerates and professional services, along with insights from internal booking and transactional data. The report highlights a strong revival in business travel demand, alongside a heightened focus on cost optimisation, policy discipline, traveller experience and compliance.
According to the survey, alongside business objectives, over 56% of respondents acknowledged the growing importance of traveller experience, flexibility and duty of care — particularly for frequent flyers and senior leadership. The findings point to a clear trade-off between traveller convenience and policy compliance, underscoring the need for smarter, more flexible travel policies supported by technology and data-led controls to reduce friction while maintaining governance.
The finding also included, around 60% of corporates indicated that they have tightened or are in the process of revisiting their travel policies. Renegotiation of airline and hotel contracts, rationalization of preferred suppliers and stricter approval workflows have emerged as key levers to offset rising costs and tax-related pressures; 68% of corporates report that employees are increasingly extending business trips to include personal leisure time — blending work and downtime. This growing shift is prompting organisations to reassess travel policies, clarify cost‑sharing norms and offer greater flexibility to support work‑plus‑leisure travel; 72% of corporate travel continues to be domestic, led by key business hubs such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. These cities remain critical for client meetings, internal reviews and project-based travel. On the international front, Singapore, Thailand, Hong-Kong, Maldives, Dubai-Abu Dhabi, UK, Italy, Netherlands, USA, South Africa and Australia remain preferred destinations for leadership meetings, supplier engagements and strategic business expansion —with China and Japan emerging strongly on the radar; A sharp 80% of respondents reported an increase in Average Ticket Prices (ATP) over the past year, with over 36% witnessing a significant rise of more than 15%, and 45% reporting a moderate increase of 5–15%, highlighting tighter controls, advance booking mandates and closer monitoring of travel spends.
Notably, GST-related complexities continue to weigh on business travel programs. Over 55% of respondents highlighted challenges around GST applicability, compliance and input tax credit (ITC) optimisation — particularly for air travel and hotel stays. This has led corporates to increasingly seek structured invoicing, compliant supplier ecosystems and expert support to minimise leakage and improve tax efficiency.
Indiver Rastogi, President & Group Head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel, said, “The findings highlight a clear shift towards value-driven programs, accelerated technology adoption and tighter governance. At Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel, our sustained engagement with customers and deep market understanding have enabled us to anticipate shifts early and introduce innovations such as Dhruv.ai, our voice-enabled AI advisor, and TravelOne, our integrated booking and management platform — helping create smarter, policy-aligned and technology-enabled travel ecosystems.”
