A new report from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) sees the international business travel surging ahead despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
GBTA regional senior director for the Asia Pacific Elle Ng-Damarwan noted how business travel within the region and beyond continues to move forward, though with a greater sense of caution and intention.
As she put it: “When we asked business travel professionals for their outlook about the year ahead, there was no doubt about what’s keeping them awake at night. In addition to geopolitics, travel affordability topped the list, cited by more than eight in ten global respondents, while employee safety was a top concern for more than two-thirds. Notably, concern about traveller safety also jumped by more than ten percentage points since GBTA’s January poll.”
Relevant findings
Findings from the aforementioned industry sentiment poll, GBTA’s first since the outbreak of conflict in West Asia, reveal the sector’s continuing resilience, adapting as necessary in the face of ongoing fuel shortages, trade issues, and unrest.
While global business travel activity is holding relatively steady into 2026, confidence among industry professionals has dropped markedly since the start of the year.
The poll likewise revealed that optimism for Q2-2026 is lower than it was just a few months ago, reflecting the direct impact that geopolitical instability is having on businesses both here in APAC and around the world.
In the face of this, organisations across the world are already adjusting to the real-world consequences of geopolitical instability.
At the same time, participants aired their concerns about everything from route and itinerary changes to the suspension of all travel to or within affected regions, alongside renewed scrutiny of duty of care policies.
Indeed, only 41 percent of those surveyed are optimistic about how the business travel scene will fare for the rest of the year, a good eight points down from the 59 percent reported in January.
Optimism is up in the Asia Pacific
Per the poll results, APAC respondents are slightly more optimistic than respondents globally.
However, overall optimism fell across all regions, as APAC optimism fell from January’s 56 percent to 48 percent.
According to Ng-Damarwan: “Our poll revealed nearly nine in ten APAC-based business travel professionals consider geopolitics to be their number one concern, the highest of any issue and closely aligned with sentiment in Europe. For a region that is deeply interconnected through trade, supply chains, and cross-border travel, geopolitical shifts are rarely a distant concern. They have immediate implications for routes, costs, compliance and traveller wellbeing.”
Collectively, airline disruptions, cancellations, and capacity constraints have also raised concerns among those in APAC, much like their peers elsewhere.
Where tech comes into play
Despite daunting scenarios, the poll also noted that APAC continues to be a leader globally in technology-enabled business travel, with 52 percent of regional travel managers saying their organisations are already proactively identifying and implementing use cases for AI tools, features or software.
Echoing a key insight from GBTA’s 2025 Business Travel Index report, 78 percent of business travel managers in APAC are comfortable using AI-powered platforms to book and manage travel.
While AI may not be able to offer solutions to geopolitical risk or rising fuel costs, it is nevertheless proving to be a powerful enabler of smarter decision-making, improved efficiency and greater scalability.
From optimising itineraries amid disruption to supporting more dynamic policy enforcement and personalised traveller support, AI-powered solutions are helping organisations adapt faster to an ever-changing global business environment.
Quo vadis, APAC?
While the overall mood within the sector and beyond is undoubtedly more cautious now, industry experts need to remember that APAC is a region with an oft-demonstrated ability to navigate complexity.
Indeed, business travel remains resilient and essential to driving growth, relationship-building and competitiveness, particularly in a region as diverse and opportunity-rich as APAC.
As Ng-Damarwan puts it: “The challenge for organisations is to balance resilience with reality: investing in smarter, more impactful business travel, building systems and processes to ensure safe employee travel, and exploiting the technologies that help travel programmes flex in uncertain conditions. In an era of heightened uncertainty, APAC’s adaptability, digital maturity and forward-looking mindset will prove to be its greatest strength.”
The impact of the global geopolitical situation of regional and global business travel will be among the key topics for discussion next month at the GBTA APAC Conference in Singapore as DBS Bank managing director and chief economist Taimur Baig takes to the floor to consider examining APAC’s economic and trade outlook whilst assessing how macroeconomic forces, political dynamics and evolving power plays are reshaping the business landscape.