SINGAPORE, 29 MAY 2025: New data from Corporate Travel Management (CTM) releases insights into the global and regional opinions of Millennial and Gen Z business travellers.
The global market research of 702 Millennial and Gen Z employees, conducted in March 2025, examines their travel habits, what they enjoy about it, how they book it, and their criteria for selecting suppliers.
It showed the majority of Millennial and Gen Z business travellers want to travel more for business, are booking their own trips, favour cost, convenience and reliability when choosing suppliers, and also consider sustainability when booking flights and hotels.
Surrey highlights
When asked what was the primary purpose of their business travel?’, the top three responses were:
1 Conferences, events and trade shows (44 %);
2 Training and education (42 %);
3 Customer/sales meetings (38 %).
CTM also asked Millennial and Gen Z respondents what they enjoyed most about travelling for business. Overall, the top ‘perks’ were seen as:
1 Experiencing new destinations (51 %);
2 Collaborating with colleagues and partners (47 %);
3 Taking a break from routine (46 %);
4 Meeting new people (37 %).
CTM’s Global Chief Operating Officer, Eleanor Noonan, commented: “Millennials already make up roughly 75% of the global workforce, closely followed by Gen Zs, and as future business decision
makers, it’s critical that we acknowledge and understand their unique views and expectations of business travel. Our research has uncovered critical insights into how younger business travellers view the business travel experience, which is driving an evolution in how we design impactful, relevant travel management services for the future.”
Professional fulfilment
57% of respondents said that business travel was ‘very important’ (33% ‘somewhat important’) to their career progression, 51% indicated that it was ‘very important’ to their professional performance (37% ‘somewhat important’), and 45% said that business travel was ‘very important’ to their job satisfaction (41% ‘somewhat important’).
70% of respondents expect the importance of business travel to increase in line with their professional experience and seniority. Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong) shared the strongest view (90%)
Frequency and enjoyment
86% of respondents flew on business at least once per year, with 70% flying between one and five times. However, 55% would like to travel more for business. When asked what they enjoyed most about travelling for business, the top three reasons were:
1 Experiencing new destinations;
2 Collaborating with colleagues and partners;
3 Taking a break from routine.
Booking for bleisure
Just under half (42%) of Millennial and Gen Z business travellers always or usually add a leisure extension to their business trip. This drops to 29% in North America and rises to 55% in Asia. (Singapore and Hong Kong).
Booking behaviour
When booking business travel (self-booking or employer), 42% booked with a TMC, and 32% booked directly with suppliers. 59% of all respondents booked their own travel. These statistics remained relatively consistent throughout the regions. Australia had the lowest number of Self-bookers (53%), while the UK had the highest (66%).
Travel policy
Globally, 70% of respondents complied with a corporate travel policy, and 83% claimed to understand its objectives. Just 54% indicated the policy aligns with their personal travel needs and expectations.
The highest levels of programming and buy-in can be found in Singapore and Hong Kong, where 84% had a policy and a vast 90% understood its objectives. More than half (66%) said their policy aligned with their personal travel needs and expectations.
Airlines and accommodation
When asked which features are most important when selecting an airline, the top three responses globally were:
1 Price;
2 Flight schedules (convenience);
3 On-time performance (reliability);
Hong Kong was the only region that indicated ‘safety record’ as one of its top three features.
The same question was asked of accommodation, with the top three answers globally being:
1 Location;
2 24/7 reception;
3 On-site fitness/wellness facilities.
Sustainability
Although sustainability is not among the top three criteria for any region when choosing airlines or accommodations, over half of the respondents (55%) indicated that sustainability was a consideration when booking flights, and 51% reported the same for hotels. Fewer than half (46%) looked for environmentally sustainable car rental services.
57% say they expect their employer to pay a premium for sustainable business travel services.
Millennials v Gen Z
There are also marked differences in the responses from Millennials vs Gen Z, as outlined in Chart 1, with the three main purposes for travelling on business among Millennials a match for the overall ranking, but ‘customer/sales meetings and ‘training and education’ leading the table for Gen Z business travellers.
About CTM
Corporate Travel Management (CTM) is an award-winning global provider of innovative and cost-effective travel solutions spanning corporate, events, leisure, loyalty and wholesale travel. Headquartered in Australia, the company provides local service solutions worldwide.
