77% of Indian businesses to increase travel budget in 2023: American Express survey

A survey has revealed that 77% of Indian businesses are expecting to increase their travel budget in 2023 as compared to 2022, with business travel across domestic and international markets showing a rebound post-pandemic.

The report titled ‘Revival of business travel: An India perspective’, which was commissioned by American Express, India with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) also found that 67% of businesses expect a rise in business travel in 2023.

The survey, which was conducted among 500+ Indian businesses, shows how important technology has become for the travel sector, with 79% of businesses surveyed using business travel data analytics to assist with travel booking and expenditure.

Manish Kapoor, Vice President and Head, Global Commercial Services (GCS), American Express Banking Corp, India said, “With increased average ticket prices expected to remain high in the medium term, Indian companies will be exploring technologies, and should adopt smarter solutions for better cost efficiencies.”

The latest survey comes days after CEO of online travel platform Agoda, Omri Morgenshtern, said that India's outbound travel market is likely to outpace many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and could rank among the top three markets for outbound travel in the coming years.

It is worth noting that domestic air travel in India has shown significant improvement, having scaled to 85.7 percent of pre-Covid levels in 2022, as reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The recovery in air travel has been sustained, with December 2022 registering an increase in air travel throughout the year when compared to 2021, according to IATA's report released earlier in February.