How is APAC’s Business Travel Community Approaching the Year Ahead?

2026 is shaping as much as be one other altering and dynamic 12 months for the worldwide enterprise journey sector, however APAC is shifting ahead with a attribute mixture of pragmatism and resilience, as GBTA’s Elle Ng-Darmawan explains.

Asia Pacific’s enterprise journey sector entered 2026 with a way of cautious optimism, as journey volumes look set to climb, regardless of ongoing uncertainty.

At first look, this confidence could seem counter‑intuitive given the unpredictable financial and geopolitical local weather. But enterprise journey professionals, each right here in Asia Pacific (APAC) and around the globe, stay measured however hopeful about 2026. Many count on their company journey budgets to carry regular—and even improve—whereas forecasting modest progress in journey volumes and income.

That is in line with sentiments mirrored in GBTA’s global poll of company journey managers, suppliers and intermediaries which we kicked off in January to grasp the outlook for the 12 months forward together with what’s protecting trade professionals awake at evening. Their insights shine a light-weight on the priorities—and pressures—shaping enterprise journey as we speak, in APAC and globally. 

APAC: pushing forward regardless of uncertainty

Journey managers throughout APAC are weathering the present uncertainty with cautious optimism. In reality, greater than half (56%) of these we polled expressed optimism in regards to the trade’s prospects for 2026. Whereas this displays a slim majority—and marks a seven‑level drop from the sentiment we noticed getting into 2025— it aligns with what we’re seeing in different markets around the globe. Enterprise journey confidence amongst APAC professionals is, in reality, barely extra buoyant than in North America, the place tariff pressures and shifting insurance policies have dampened confidence extra considerably.

There are additionally encouraging indicators for sector progress. Forty two p.c of APAC journey managers count on the variety of vacationers in managed packages to extend in 2026, whereas over two-thirds (77%) anticipate that their operational journey budgets will both maintain regular or increase.

From budgets to borders: the large challenges for APAC enterprise journey 

Whereas the temper stays broadly optimistic in APAC, there are many challenges protecting journey managers awake at evening. After we requested in regards to the pressures shaping their packages this 12 months, a number of themes emerged clearly. Their high considerations replicate the fragile balancing act between monetary self-discipline, traveler expertise, and evolving expectations from management.

The largest points voiced by APAC enterprise journey professionals embody:

• • Costs rising quicker than budgets (50%), with price inflation persevering with to outpace allotted journey spend, creating strain to do extra with much less;
  • Stress to make use of AI to scale back prices (45%), a problem that ranked noticeably increased in APAC than in North America, highlighting the area’s quicker adoption curve and rising expectations round automation; 
  • Maintaining with altering border guidelines (39%), with visa and border friction is turning into a structural menace to enterprise journey; 

• Balancing strict price controls with traveler satisfaction (45%); and,

• Proving the worth of journey to management (35%), with journey managers more and more anticipated to show ROI and strategic affect as budgets come beneath scrutiny.

Collectively, these considerations paint an image of an trade working exhausting to maintain journey packages environment friendly, aggressive, and future‑prepared—regardless of tightening budgets and an more and more advanced working atmosphere.

An image of pragmatism and resilience in APAC

Regardless of an unsure horizon, the APAC enterprise journey group is urgent forward with clear willpower. The optimism we see within the area – the world’s largest for enterprise journey spending – is grounded for the second in actuality: secure or increasing budgets, anticipated progress in traveler numbers, and a strategic urge for food for innovation, significantly round AI.

The challenges are actual—however so too is the momentum we’re seeing. With cautious planning, considerate funding, and an unwavering dedication to enabling productive, sustainable and secure journey, APAC’s enterprise journey ecosystem is effectively‑positioned not simply to climate 2026, however to form it.