In an age of digital everything, the human connections we forge with one another give businesses a competitive edge. A 2025 survey by U.S. research firm Harris Poll finds that 91% of Gen Z workers prefer a balance between virtual and in-person opportunities to connect with colleagues and industry peers. 89% view relationships built at in-person events as crucial for building professional confidence and career growth.
Business travel plays a pivotal role in fostering these connections. Yet, quantifying its return on investment (ROI) isn’t so straightforward. “The landscape has evolved significantly, making the ROI of business travel more critical, and more complex,” says Raphael Pasdeloup, CWT’s Senior Vice President of Global Customer Management. “At the same time, calculating ROI remains one of the industry’s most difficult tasks, because it extends beyond a simple cost-benefit analysis.”
This complexity becomes even more pronounced during periods of economic uncertainty when travel budgets are often among the first to be cut. Travel cuts offer immediate savings helping CFOs meet short-term financial targets. But this approach can harm long-term growth.
Here’s how to demonstrate travel’s value and evolve your corporate travel program from a budgetary burden into a strategic asset.
Transform numbers into narratives
“Travel data should be used to tell a relevant, clear, and actionable story that uncovers trends, patterns, and anomalies requiring attention or action,” says Logan LaBonne, CWT’s Director, Product Management, Data & Analytics.
CWT’s Analytics reporting tool lets users explore travel data using natural language queries. This empowers teams across HR, finance, security, and sales to access insights without needing technical expertise or knowledge of travel-specific terminology. By asking questions like, “What were the average CO₂ emissions for international flights from Germany last year?” users get instant answers to enable quick and informed decisions. The platform also provides AI-generated summaries that spotlight key trends, such as changes in online booking rates or carbon emissions, along with context to support timely actions.
Cut costs, not corners
With real-time insights at your fingertips, you can monitor travel spend across departments and regions, assess policy compliance, and benchmark your performance against industry standards. But it doesn’t stop there. Thanks to the power of gen- AI, business intelligence has evolved beyond static reports. Now, you get faster, more personalized insights without needing a data analyst by your side.
One global equipment, components and services company consolidated their data for the first time through CWT, and discovered that it was spending 625% more on travel than estimated.
It’s not just savings. CWT’s business intelligence lets you track supplier performance, analyze traveler behavior, and run what-if scenarios that not only save money but also boost employee performance. It’s not just about managing travel but about using it to build cost-efficient, motivated and successful teams.
Forecast for agility
The first step to embedding your travel program at the heart of business success is to plan in line with objectives. Forecasting corporate travel by purpose, such as client meetings, training, and conferences enables more precise and strategic travel management. Since client meetings and training typically account for the majority of travel spend, tailoring forecasting methods to each trip type allows companies to align their travel policies with business priorities. This targeted approach helps maximize return on investment by focusing resources on high-impact activities.
Use advanced analytics to correlate travel expenses with business outcomes such as sales growth, client acquisition, and team building, along with priorities like reducing emissions, enhancing traveler satisfaction, and improving cost efficiency.
By presenting data-driven evidence of travel's future impact on business objectives, you can reposition it as an investment rather than a cost and make strategic changes, fast.
Business travel is no longer just a line item, it’s a tool for growth. By harnessing data, embracing AI, and aligning travel with strategic goals, companies can turn their travel programs into powerful drivers of connection, performance, and value. It’s time to shift the narrative from cost centre to catalyst.
Discover how to partner with CWT to build an agile travel program fit for the future
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