New research from Business Travel Show Europe reveals a significant shift in corporate travel roles, with an 8.4% rise in travel managers who have taken on responsibility for meetings management within the last year.
According to the survey of 192 travel professionals, 60.5% of corporate travel buyers are now jointly responsible for travel and meetings – up from 50% in 2025.
This breaks down as follows:
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8.4% were given the additional remit within the last 12 months
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10.08% took it on more than a year ago
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42.02% have always held both functions
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Among the 39.5% who do not currently manage both, 21.85% believe it is “only a matter of time”.
Cost savings, visibility and efficiency top the list of benefits
Respondents cited multiple advantages to integrating travel and meetings – these rank as follows:
In contrast, the biggest downside by far was considered to be ‘overloaded under resourced teams’:
The findings reflect a growing industry trend toward unified travel and meetings strategies, driven by rising cost pressures, the need for consolidated data and increasing expectations around risk management and sustainability.
Louis Magliaro, executive vice president, The BTN Group, said: “This data confirms what we’re hearing across the industry: the lines between travel and meetings management are rapidly disappearing. Organisations want greater visibility, stronger control and a more strategic approach to spend, and that’s pushing these two functions closer together than ever before.
“At Business Travel Show Europe, we’re hosting a buyer only strategic meetings management session on day two, when attendees will be invited to confidentially share experiences, compare approaches and discuss what it takes to build visibility into meeting spend, strengthen governance and partner effectively with procurement.”
