Business travel trends for 2025
Attitudes towards business travel are continuing to evolve and divide at a rapid pace.
In 2024, nearly half the companies scrutinised their business trips and travel expenses policies, while the others celebrated the irreplaceable value of travelling for face-to-face encounters.
Discover what will impact business travel in 2025, according to Bolt Business teams across the globe. 👇
A note from Nick Powell, VP of Bolt Business
“Businesses continue to prioritise travel despite economic pressures and evolving workplace behaviours, highlighting the unique value of face-to-face interactions.
By 2025, the focus will shift to individual preferences. Whether employees, clients, or guests prioritise safety, sustainability, flexibility, or convenience, Bolt Business is committed to ensuring every business ride meets these expectations.”
Sustainability is to take the stage
Global sustainability initiatives drive businesses to measure, report, and reduce carbon emissions. As the global average temperature is likely to increase by 1.5 °C, forming sustainable travel habits will become essential for businesses of all sizes.
“There will be a more concerted effort by companies to have their employees prioritising or only selecting sustainable travel methods such as electric and hybrid vehicle rides or using other modes of transport such as micromobility.”
“Globally, there will be an increase in shared mobility services for sustainable practice as well as a cost-saving measure.”
These changes reflect a need for stakeholders across the world to see businesses take action when it comes to their carbon footprint.
“Sustainability will be at the core of companies’ choices when looking for a provider. Not only for compliance with their ESG commitments but also because their employee and customer base increasingly demand it.”
“As environmental awareness grows, businesses are to adopt more eco-friendly travel practices. We already see more large-scale clients requesting to use only electric vehicles.”
Did you know? We offset all Bolt Business rides’ carbon emissions. Keep up to date with our current sustainability initiatives and plans here.
The rise of ‘bleisure’
Combining business with leisure (the trend of ‘bleisure’) is expected to grow as work-life balance is continually promoted and redefined by a new, lifestyle-focused generation.
Businesses will want to incentivise top talent and foster a genuine, positive working culture to retain quality employees in an increasingly competitive hiring environment.
“The concept of ‘bleisure’ will become more widely adopted when it comes to business travel. This will be especially popular among young professionals and remote workers who see value in combining work-related travel with personal enjoyment.”
This blended approach of individualism and connection means that organisations may reconsider travel priorities and office environments.
“By 2025, travel distances, spending, and patterns may shift as businesses adapt to the new normal of hybrid work. Fully remote teams will likely invest more heavily in offline events.”
Travel as a popular perk
Similarly, businesses might need to become more creative to win the hearts of their employees.
“As companies plan to bring employees back to the office, providing travel allowances as benefits will become a popular way to engage employees and retain staff over fully remote competitors.”
More focus on safety
Whilst autonomy is essential for successful business travel in 2025, so is safety.
Companies are becoming more holistic with their approach to employee welfare and will count on modern technology to address this challenge.
“This year, safety has been a massive focus for companies, and this will only grow as a top priority for employers in 2025.
The number of organisations implementing personal safety protocols and training is also increasing, with real-time safety alerts and check-in features on mobile apps supporting this approach.
“Alongside the increasing use of mobile apps to stay updated on local alerts, some companies require employees to check in regularly. Many also offer travel safety training, covering everything from health precautions to handling emergencies, natural disasters, or political instability.”
Did you know? The Bolt Safety Team comprises over 500 people, ensuring the passengers get around safely. Find out more here.
More focus on reasonable spending
Economic uncertainty is expected to echo across multiple regions in 2025, meaning that business travel spending will likely continue to be scrutinised.
Budget-conscious choices will be key for many businesses that want to maintain face-to-face interactions.
“Companies may look to cut back on travel expenses in response to economic pressures, focusing on essential client or project-related travel rather than routine trips. We expect a general move from luxury to mid-range, convenience, and budget options.”
“With quite an unpredictable economic and geopolitical setup, cost optimisation will be essential. Business travellers value freedom of choice, but employers will highly focus on budget control. Business travel providers with flexible travel policies to cover both sides of the equation will stand out.”
Introducing incentives for sustainable travel
With concerted efforts towards sustainable travel rippling globally, some regions might need more of a nudge. New ways to incentivise employees towards using electric vehicle or micromobility may influence business travel habits.
“Governments and transport providers have a part to play when incentivising greener travel. At Bolt, we make sustainable rides more accessible and affordable to help businesses make the right choice for the planet and their budget!”
“Companies may encourage shared mobility services or choose rail travel over domestic flights where feasible, especially in well-connected areas where public transport is efficient and eco-friendly.”
“It’s likely that there will be a reduction in the number of short-distance rides as companies will push employees to use public transport.”
An increasing need for last-mile delivery services
Thanks to the rise of e-commerce and a growing number of SMEs, last-mile delivery solutions may face a spike in demand.
“There will be a boom with last-mile delivery services like Bolt Send. Hence, we will experience a significant increase in businesses needing to manage light logistics.”
More strategic business travel
Economic and environmental pressures could lead to more businesses worldwide becoming savvy about how and when to travel, spending less on short trips and routine meetings, and shifting their focus towards shared mobility services.
“With most routine meetings successfully happening online, companies may prioritise offline travel for high-impact interactions like negotiations, team-building, or conferences.”
“Businesses sometimes prefer Bolt Drive over ride-hailing as it allows them to transport more people per vehicle, thus reducing the overall cost. This option provides a cost-efficient solution for those looking to save on transport expenses while accommodating more individuals.”
“More businesses will bring back offline meetings with clients. There will be more emphasis on personalised travel experiences to elevate customer relationships further and build important connections.”
Further adoption of micromobility
As micromobility is equally convenient and environmentally friendly, more cities will likely adopt micromobility to encourage fast, sustainable travel.
“Micromobility will continue to expand in all areas. Ongoing public transport strikes, cost, and autonomy push businesses towards adding new modes of transport into their regular inner city travel or commute options.”
“In a market like Portugal, sustainability and efficiency have been at the forefront of any debate around business travel. I foresee multimodality to be of utmost importance. Providers covering a large journey spectrum with flexible transport options will be at the top of customers’ choices.”
“In 2025, Estonia will introduce a car tax that will significantly raise the cost of owning a vehicle. As a result, this could drive up demand for shared mobility services like ride-hailing and micromobility, as individuals and businesses seek more cost-effective alternatives to personal vehicle ownership.”
Moving away from private fleets
With high inflation and transport costs increasing, many companies may look towards more cost-effective travel methods rather than the expensive option of managing their own fleets.
“Many companies will prefer public transport over owning cars to reduce overheads such as drivers, parking, and fuel.”
“Because of the persistent inflation and subsidy removals which have affected spending power, most companies will be prioritising value for money when they travel.
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