Leisure travel to the U.S. is down, but business bookings are up

Leisure travel to the United States is down this year, but business travel to the country remains stable, according to a report from SAP Concur.

The United States was the top destination for global business travelers in the first half of 2025, according to the report.

Some 15% of all business air travel bookings were to destinations in the U.S., it showed. That’s twice the number of business bookings to Germany (7.7%) and United Kingdom (7.6%), which ranked second and third, respectively, in the report.

Business travel between Canada and the U.S. also held steady, with the U.S. accounting for nearly 80% of outbound business trips made by Canadians, according to the data.

Despite crumbling relations between the two countries, international business booking volume rose slightly (0.18%) in Canada in the first half of 2025 from the same period last year, it showed.

The report showed the top international destinations for business travelers in the first half of 2025 were:

1.      U.S.
2.      Germany
3.      U.K.
4.      Canada
5.      France
6.      Spain
7.      Netherlands
8.      Mexico
9.      China
10. Italy

The report, combined with data from BCD Travel and American Express Global Business Travel, as reported by Skift Friday, show that the negative travel sentiment rippling through Canada, Western Europe and some parts of Asia isn’t affecting those with corporate interests in the United States.  

“Business travel to the U.S. seems to be business as usual,” said Charlie Sultan, president of Concur Travel at SAP Concur. “In the first half of 2025, we saw a 1% increase in inbound business travel volume to the U.S. compared to the first half of 2024.”  

This slight increase is lower than the 2.6% year-on-year rise in global business travel volume, which dropped from 4.5% in the first quarter to 0.6% in the second quarter, the report showed. However, the decline — which came as Trump’s tariff policies continued to rile global economies — comports with normal seasonal travel patterns and is “not surprising,” according to Concur’s report.

“In 2024, we really started to see business travel come back. Domestic trips were up about 3%, and international trips grew nearly 6% globally,” Sultan told CNBC Travel. “With that kind of momentum, we expected the trend to continue into 2025. And so far, that’s what we’re seeing.”

However, while business travel to the U.S. may show few signs of slowing down, the same cannot be said of outbound bookings by American business travelers.

International business travel from the U.S. dropped 2.3% year on year in the first half of 2025, according to the report.

The first quarter saw a modest year-on-year drop of 1%, followed by a larger 3.8% drop in the second quarter, it showed.

But again, that “is consistent with seasonal trends,” the report said.

In January, the U.S. Travel Association projected business travel would be “slower than other verticals” in 2025, with spending not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until after 2028.

International airfares for business travelers held steady in the first half of 2025 despite rising demand, with tickets averaging around $1,682, according to SAP Concur.

American business travelers paid the most for international flights, with tickets averaging $2,675, compared with $1,950 in Japan and $719 in Italy, the data showed.

Airfares between U.S. and Canada also returned to 2024 levels this summer, according to the report. Average fares fell to $997 in the first quarter, before returning to $1,100 by June, it showed.

— CNBC’s Kaela Ling contributed to this report.