A March 2025 worldwide survey of 702 employees in the youngest two generations in the workforce – Millennials, aged between 29 and 44 – and Gen Z, aged 28 and under – found that 44 per cent cited business events as the reason for corporate travel.
The next two most frequent responses were training and education (42 per cent) and customer and sales meetings at 38 per cent.
Eighty-six per cent of respondents said they travelled at least once a year for work, while 70 per cent travelled between one and five times a year.
“These findings challenge the once accepted view that the next generation of business travellers will be more content doing business digitally,” said CTM Meetings and Events European general manager, Mike Leeson.
“In fact, what we’ve seen at CTM M&E is the exact opposite.
“Spending so much time working from home or in a hybrid capacity in recent years has actually fuelled a desire for Millennial and Gen Z workers to meet face to face more, either with colleagues or for business, and this is driving a need for all types of events, whether team building, internal meetings, sales rallies, kick offs, AGMs, rewards and incentives or conferences and trades shows.
“And, of course, business travel is seeing the benefits, too.”
If the survey results from the two generations are taken separately, Millennials are much more likely to be travelling for events, with 46 per cent selecting this reason for corporate travel, while Gen Zs are slightly more likely to be travelling for customer and sales meetings (37 per cent) or education and training (36 per cent) than for conferences and trade shows (35 per cent).
“Although Gen Z respondents say conferences, events and trade shows are less important to them than Millennial respondents, I suspect this is simply because they are, generally speaking, not yet in the right roles to attend strategic events,” said Leeson.
Seventy per cent of respondents across both generations expect to travel more as they become more senior.
And when asked what they liked most about corporate travel, the reason was most often personal: 51 per cent of respondents said they enjoyed experiencing a new destination, while collaborating with colleagues and partners came in second, selected by 47 per cent per cent of respondents, and meeting new people came in fourth at 37 per cent, despite this being one of the major reasons to attend conferences and trade shows.
“What we’re seeing is a strong alignment between the purpose of business travel and what younger travellers value most,” said Leeson.
“Conferences, events and trade shows remain a key driver of business travel, and they offer exactly what Gen Z and Millennial travellers are looking for; opportunities to collaborate, build relationships and meet new people. These are the kinds of meaningful, in-person experiences that simply can’t be replicated virtually.”
