The return of global business travel spending to pre-pandemic levels is set to be delayed by two years until 2026 due to ¡°headwinds¡± such as inflation and supply chain shortages, according to an updated forecast by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

The latest GBTA Business Travel Index Outlook includes a forecast that total global business travel spending in 2022 will increase 33.8 per cent year-on-year to $993 billion.?

This figure is a bit lower than GBTA projected in?its previous BTI Outlook in November 2021, which forecast 38 per cent growth in 2022. That outlook also included a projection that business travel spending would reach 2019 levels in 2024, but GBTA now forecasts that won't happen until 2026.

GBTA said in a statement that ¡°many macroeconomic conditions deteriorated rapidly in early 2022¡±, affecting the recovery of business travel.

The association cited several factors as obstacles to rapid recovery, including ¡°persistent inflation, high energy prices, severe supply chain challenges and labour shortages, a significant economic slowdown and lockdowns in China, and major regional impacts due to the war in Ukraine as well as emerging sustainability considerations¡±.

GBTA now projects 2025 business travel spending of $1.399 trillion, just shy of the 2019 figure of $1.431 trillion. The association then forecasts expenditure of $1.472 trillion in 2026.

¡°To understand the headwinds that have been impacting a more accelerated recovery for global business travel, all you have to do is look at the news headlines since the beginning of 2022,¡± GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said in a statement.?

¡°The factors impacting many industries around the world are also anticipated to impact global business travel recovery into 2025.¡±

The 14^th annual BTI Outlook studies business travel spending in 73 countries, according to the association. It was developed in conjunction with Rockport Analytics and was sponsored by Mastercard.