See the Data-Backed Trends Driving Business Travel Now
The Navan Business Travel Benchmark, validated by the Nasdaq Economic Research Team, gives a clear picture of how companies are traveling today. By isolating business travel activity from consumer travel patterns, the benchmark reveals the true momentum behind face-to-face meetings, customer visits, and on-site collaboration.
13.5% year-over-year growth in business travel
In H1 2026, the overall index grew 13.5% YoY, as companies doubled down on in-person connections — even amid economic uncertainty.
Benchmark reaches an all‑time high
The index hit a record high of 189.1 in H1 2026, widening its gap with TSA consumer travel data to 68 points.
Meeting in person remains non-negotiable
Business travel spend rose 21.5% domestically and 13.8% internationally YoY, reflecting a strong commitment to in‑person time with teams and customers.
13.5% year-over-year growth in business travel
In H1 2026, the overall index grew 13.5% YoY, as companies doubled down on in-person connections — even amid economic uncertainty.
Benchmark reaches an all‑time high
The index hit a record high of 189.1 in H1 2026, widening its gap with TSA consumer travel data to 68 points.
Meeting in person remains non-negotiable
Business travel spend rose 21.5% domestically and 13.8% internationally YoY, reflecting a strong commitment to in‑person time with teams and customers.
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"Even as broader travel plateaued, businesses kept investing in face-to-face interactions because of its essential role in driving growth, serving customers, and building teams. In line with our expectations, the BTB grew by 13.5% year-over-year as corporate travel remained strong and resilient.”
"Our partnership with Navan delivers a rigorous, data-backed view on travel’s role as a key economic indicator. The latest benchmark shows that companies are continuing to invest in reaching new markets to drive growth and absorbing higher costs as a sign of confidence that business will keep moving."
Behind the Navan Business Travel Benchmark
Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the leading all-in-one business travel, payments, and expense management platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Navan customers benefit and learn more at navan.com.
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a leading global technology company serving corporate clients, investment managers, banks, brokers, and exchange operators as they navigate and interact with the global capital markets and the broader financial system. We aspire to deliver world-leading platforms that improve the liquidity, transparency, and integrity of the global economy. Our diverse offering of data, analytics, software, exchange capabilities, and client-centric services enables clients to optimize and execute their business vision with confidence. To learn more about the company, technology solutions, and career opportunities, visit us on LinkedIn, on X @Nasdaq, or at nasdaq.com.
Methodology
The Navan Business Travel Benchmark is derived from millions of corporate transactions across more than 10,000 businesses, captured through Navan's travel and expense management platform. It was developed using methodologies closely aligned with the Conference Board's composite index approach — a widely recognized industry standard — and validated by experts from Nasdaq.
The benchmark is built on these core principles:
The benchmark tracks three categories of business travel activity on our platform (air, hotel, and expense transactions) across two metric types (spend and volume) and two regions (domestic and international). This results in 12 distinct time series; each reflects data from a stable customer cohort, defined as companies that were active 24 months prior to the reporting month.
Each component is recalculated as a weighted average across 14 industry categories. This controls for changes in industry mix, so that benchmark growth reflects real market trends and is not skewed by shifts in Navan’s customer composition.
The benchmark employs a dynamic weighting system to automatically adjust for market volatility, identifying and neutralizing the effects of factors like fuel surcharges and seasonal price spikes. Each metric is balanced by calculating a trailing 12-month standard deviation and scaling by the inverse of its volatility, allowing more stable data to carry greater weight.
For each component, monthly changes are computed using symmetric percent change, which treats increases and decreases consistently.
Following the composite index approach, the final measurement is calculated as the weighted sum of standardized components. Each component’s contribution is based on its inverse volatility. The benchmark preserves the natural seasonality of business travel rather than smoothing out these patterns.
January 2023 serves as the benchmark baseline (set at 100), with subsequent months calculated recursively using the symmetric change method. The customer cohort is updated monthly based on the 24-month activity window, allowing the benchmark to reflect underlying business travel behavior rather than growth in Navan’s customer base. Beginning in H1 2026, the index is reported on a semiannual (H1/H2) basis, with each period aggregating the underlying monthly index values.
