What is business travel? Types, benefits, and tips

Even though the working world has changed, and video conferencing tools like Zoom have taken over, business travel will always be important for many kinds of companies. 

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In fact, a 2024 study from the Harvard Business Review, found that 60% expected increased business travel for the year.

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But what qualifies as business travel and how exactly can business travel help companies increase their revenue and growth potential? In this article, we explain what business travel is, how it benefits your company, and ways to manage it.

What is business travel?

Business travel is any travel conducted for business purposes. It refers business-related trips that require your team members to be away from home for at least a day, meaning it doesn’t include daily commuting or personal travel.

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How companies handle corporate travel management and organize business travel arrangements varies. In many cases, employees book business travel plans themselves. Some companies have a managed travel program through an in-house team, while others outsource this responsibility to a travel management company (TMC) or travel agency. It all depends on how high of a priority business travel is for your company.

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Types of business travel

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

• Conferences, events, exhibitions, and trade shows: These events allow your employees to find new vendors or partners, network with their peers, and learn about industry trends and best practices. Or, you can sign up to be an exhibitor at a trader fair to give talks or demo new products and features. 
• Client and business meetings: Meeting with sales prospects can drum up new business for your company or strengthen existing relationships with top clients and partners. You might negotiate a new or existing contract, install equipment, or conduct maintenance for a customer. Or, a client meeting might be to check that their processes meet expectations, compliance, and legal requirements.
• Internal corporate events and meetings: If you have a distributed or remote workforce, it’s nice to get together in-person from time to time. This makes it easier for remote teams to collaborate and interact with their colleagues face-to-face.
• Team-building activities and training: You might also invest in off-site team-building activities or company retreats. When remote or distributed employees get to know each other outside of work and relax on the company’s time (and dime), it helps strengthen team bonds and facilitate new ideas for your business. You could also use this time for training and education, on top of the social team-building activities.
• Bleisure travel: Bleisure is a portmanteau combining business and leisure travel. This is when you 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, you can also reframe bleisure trips as attractive perks for top performers. 

Why business travel is important

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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In-person meetings can help you build relationships, close deals, explore new markets‍, and promote employee development. Here are four ways business travel can benefit your company:

1. Building relationships and networking

Investing in business travel helps your company and employees establish connections to a broader network of potential partners, clients, and talent. 

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In-person meetings increase trust and facilitate fuller and more efficient conversations. Consider how much context is left out in video calls and email communications without nonverbal cues like body language, tone of voice, and microexpressions.

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Face-to-face conversations help resolve questions and concerns faster than other methods of communication. And, it makes it easier to parse information and get to the true meaning of a person’s words. You can react and respond in real time, too. 

2. 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 puts your company in front of your ideal customers when they’re looking for solutions like yours. For example, attendees at trade shows or exhibitions may be seeking new partners or suppliers. If you’re on-site and your competitor isn’t, that crucial in-person connection could be what closes the deal.

3. Exploring new markets and opportunities 

Many companies use business trips to assess new business opportunities and 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 and whether the business would benefit from the expansion.

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Companies often send employees to 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. 

4. 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 you are, there are always new opportunities to learn from global travel, other perspectives, cultures, and organizations. 

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Business travel 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 corporate 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 for things like airfare and car rentals, 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 easily 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 cost savings for airfare, rental cars, and hotel rooms, 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 room 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.