What is business travel? Examples, benefits, and tips

Despite the widespread use of video conferencing tools like Zoom, business travel will always remain important for many companies. Case in point: A 2023 survey conducted by the Harvard Business Review found that 84% of organizations see tangible business benefits from trips to meet with clients, customers, or prospects in person.

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But what qualifies as business travel, and how exactly can business travel help companies increase their revenue and growth potential? We’ll answer these questions here.

What is business travel?

Business travel is essentially travel conducted for business purposes. It refers to any business-related trip that requires travelers to be away from home for at least a day, so it doesn’t include daily commuting or personal travel.

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How companies organize business travel arrangements varies. In many cases, employees book business travel plans themselves. Some companies might have a managed travel program run by an in-house team, while others may outsource this responsibility to a travel management company (TMC) or travel agency.

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5 common examples of business travel

Business travel can take many forms depending on your company’s goals. Here are some of the most common types of business travel:

1. Conferences and trade shows

Companies often send representatives to industry conferences, trade shows, and exhibitions. These events allow your employees to find new vendors or partners, network with their peers, and learn about industry trends and best practices. Meanwhile, companies that sign up to be exhibitors may have employees giving talks or demoing their products and features. 

2. Client meetings

Business travelers often meet with prospects to drum up new business for the company or strengthen existing relationships with top clients or partners. Companies might arrange for employees to negotiate a new or existing contract, install equipment, or conduct maintenance for a customer. Depending on the industry, a business might also send employees to a vendor or supplier to ensure their processes meet expectations and legal requirements.

3. Corporate events

Organizations with distributed workforces also plan business travel for internal meetings and events. This makes it easier for teams to conduct collaborative work and creates opportunities for remote employees to interact with their colleagues face-to-face. 

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You’ll often see large corporations bringing employees to their headquarters for role-specific training sessions or business meetings. Alternatively, companies might send business leaders to their regional offices to meet with team members or plan specific projects.

4. Team-building activities

You might also invest in off-site team-building activities or company retreats. By allowing remote or distributed employees to get to know each other outside of work and relax on the company’s time (and dime), you can help strengthen team bonds and facilitate new ideas for your business. 

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If you have the budget, consider hosting it in a different city or state—or perhaps even a different country altogether. You can take advantage of business group discounts to make these gatherings more affordable for your company. 

5. Bleisure travel 

Bleisure is a portmanteau combining business and leisure. Increasingly popular in recent years, bleisure travel is when employers allow travelers to extend their business trips into personal vacations. Aside from the obvious mental health benefits employees receive from taking time off work to explore a new city, companies that allow bleisure trips can often reframe these responsibilities as attractive perks for top performers. 

How business travel benefits your company

Business travel is often a company’s biggest expense after payroll, but it’s a worthwhile investment. A 2023 Tourism Economics survey showed that, for many organizations, reduced business travel during the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted their financial performance (35%) and ability to acquire or retain customers (42%).

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Moreover, a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology revealed that people perceive others as more genuine during in-person interactions, which can prove crucial for driving sales and creating business relationships. 

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Generally, though, business travel can benefit companies in the following ways:

Building relationships and networking

Nearly all business trips have the goal of building stronger relationships with clients, colleagues, peers, and vendors. Investing in business travel can also help your company and employees establish connections to a broader network of potential partners, clients, and talent. 

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Face-to-face meetings aren’t just helpful for increasing trust; they can also facilitate fuller and more efficient conversations. Consider how much context is left out in video calls and text-based communications. Nonverbal cues like body language, tone of voice, and microexpressions all lend nuance to the actual words a person says—and they can completely change the meaning of an interaction, too.

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Because of this, having conversations face-to-face can help resolve questions and concerns faster than other methods of communication can. It makes it easier to parse information and get to the true meaning of a person’s words, and you can respond to them in real time as well. 

Closing deals and generating revenue

The authenticity of in-person communication also makes it easier to close deals and make sales. Think about how many contracts are won over business dinners, on the golf course, and during other social events.

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Business travel can also put your company in front of your ideal customers when they’re seeking out products or services like yours. For example, attendees at trade shows or exhibitions may be there to seek out new partners or suppliers. By getting their eyes on your offering and making those crucial in-person connections, you become more likely to close the deal with them than a competitor might.

Exploring new markets and opportunities 

Many companies use business trips to assess the viability of new business opportunities and their potential return on investment. A manufacturer interested in building a new warehouse in a different country, for instance, may send a representative to evaluate the conditions there and whether the business would benefit from the expansion.

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Companies often send employees to research revenue opportunities in a new market as well. They might investigate whether there’s sufficient demand for their products or services in a new demographic or whether local regulations would restrict their operations in that area. 

Promoting employee development and learning

Employees who go on business trips also learn more about your industry, grow as professionals, and see the world at large. No matter how well-traveled they are, there are always new opportunities to learn from other perspectives, cultures, and organizations. 

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Business travel also encourages personal and professional growth in employees by developing their professional network, promoting the importance of cultural competency, and helping them build confidence in business dealings as a representative of your company.

How to manage your business travel program effectively

Implementing a successful business travel program takes time. If your organization plans to create one soon, here are some tips to help you manage it more effectively:

Create a comprehensive travel policy

Having a guide or handbook that lays out your organization's policies on business travel sets expectations for your employees, helps ensure compliance with company guidelines, reduces travel costs, and simplifies the travel booking and management process

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Once you’ve created your corporate travel policy, add it to your onboarding process and have all your existing employees read it so everyone is aware of the new guidelines. Also consider hosting it in a cloud storage platform—such as a shared Google Drive or your travel management software—so employees can review it whenever they have questions.

Enhance the traveler experience

Business travelers don’t always have it easy. In fact, these trips can actually be stressful for employees. Not only are they generally required to work a full day—sometimes in less-than-ideal working environments—but they may also be expected to network with clients and colleagues after hours. And let’s not forget how exhausting travel itself can be.

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So, when possible, look for ways to improve the quality of your employees’ travel experience. If an employee is embarking on an extended trip, you could book business class flights or upgraded accommodations. You could also proactively book them on a new flight if their connection gets canceled for uninterrupted travel plans. These efforts won’t go unappreciated.

Take advantage of business travel management tools

Companies are fortunate to have a variety of travel management tools available to support their needs and business goals.

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You can use travel booking tools to find flights and hotel rooms at affordable prices, expense management software to oversee travel spending and reimbursement, and communication apps to stay updated on travelers' whereabouts at all times. Consumer travel apps like currency converters and eSIMs often prove useful, too.

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No matter which tools you choose for your organization, make sure to vet them thoroughly for cybersecurity risks. You don’t want to save your company a few dollars here just to owe hundreds of thousands in damages and legal fees.

Unite your business travel and finance operations with Ramp

Getting the greatest ROI from your business travel program requires a concerted effort from your travel manager, finance teams, and the travelers themselves. An end-to-end solution like Ramp can help simplify travel and expense management for everyone involved.

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All you have to do is define your expense policy and Ramp Travel handles the rest, pulling compliant flight and hotel options into a single dashboard for employees to book. Our modern expense management platform collects data on all business travel expenses made with our integrated corporate cards for real-time expense tracking and automated expense reporting and approvals.

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Managing business travel doesn’t have to be a headache. Check out an interactive demo to see how Ramp customers save an average of 5% a year by streamlining their finance operations.