VDR_Business Travel Report, 20 Years

VDR Business Travel Report 2022

volume 20

Years

The German Business Travel Association

A return but not a reset........................................................4

1 Key ﬁgures at a glance ........................................................5

2 Business travel: facts and ﬁgures..........................................7

Quantity .............................................................................7

Costs..................................................................................7

Business travellers ..............................................................8

Duration.............................................................................9

3 Structure of business travel costs .......................................10

Average costs....................................................................10

Cost areas ........................................................................11

4 Travel Management: Positioning and partnerships................12

Positioning and partnerships..............................................12

Company travel policy........................................................12

Integrated mobility management ........................................13

Collaborations with Travel Management Companies..............14

Payment methods .............................................................14

5 Overnight stays, hotel purchasing .......................................16

Overall trends ...................................................................16

Corporate rates .................................................................16

Serviced apartments, requirements.....................................17

6 Climate protection and sustainability ..................................18

Reporting .........................................................................18

Improvement measures......................................................18

Interview with Claudia Müller, MdB ....................................20

Pricing .............................................................................21

7 Changes due to and post-pandemic ....................................22

Travel volume....................................................................22

Use of private cars and carsharing services..........................23

Digital transformation and work models...............................24

Interview with Christoph Carnier, VDR.................................25

8 Outlook ............................................................................26

Emerging with clarity from the crisis...................................26

Methodology and credits....................................................28

Methodology.....................................................................28

The research team ............................................................29

Credits .............................................................................30

Contents

Business travel has become possible again, even though as a society, we are still struggling

ith several concurrent challenges. The “epochal shift”, a term used in abundance this year,

began in the business travel sector back in March 2020 and the shock of the pandemic is by

no means over.

The shockwaves are still being felt in the German economy, both in a positive and in a negative

sense. For instance, demands for more environmental, economic and social sustainability can

be heard both globally and in companies, and in the travel management sector they have

become visible: It is now a mission rather than an option for travel companies to prove that

they are sustainable businesses by providing corresponding products and services. On the other

hand, the travel sector is currently noticing how difficult it is to return to everyday operations.

Over the past two years, the significance of business travel as an economic factor has become

abundantly clear. Many locations, regions and countries depend on business and private tra-

vellers and the money they spend. In addition, business travel is spreading more broadly across

regions and in terms of time. Over the two decades of this analysis, daily spending has proven

to be about twice that of holiday spending. Sustainability also includes socio-economic aspects.

So it’s a clear “yes”! to corporate mobility – the question for the future is “what will this look

like”? In spite of all the digitalised efficiency, face-to-face meetings are still recognised as

being indispensable in many cases.

And even though we are happy to be “back to business”, business travel is likely to fall in the

long run for several reasons. But by how much? How will the way we work change? Might sus-

tainability efforts lose out to economic problems after all? Who is responsible for integrated

mobility management at companies? What should current and future partnerships with service

providers look like? This 20th VDR Business Travel Report once again presents both facts and

figures as well as a range of future-relevant topics.

As Germany’s largest network for modern mobility management, VDR represents the interests

of its members on both the national and international levels. To strengthen European collabo-

ration, BT4Europe was launched on 24 February 2022

and the partnership with the Global

Business Travel Association (GBTA) continues to work effectively.

In daily dialogue with its

stakeholders and with the help of market research as well as events, VDR tracks the topics

relevant to mobility management and offers responsible and reliable orientation for the future.

Every crisis can also be a valuable opportunity for positive transformation. Let’s get to work!

As our readers, your input is particularly important. We look forward with you to reading about

what is currently happening as well as receiving your ideas for new topics.

A return but not a reset

https://bt4europe.com

https://www.vdr-service.de/

gbta-vdr-conference

Chapter 1

“Back to business” but not

“business as usual”

After the collapse in business travel in 2020, the

situation improved slightly in 2021. This was par-

ticularly important to the survival of German

service providers. As before, the majority (80%)

of the 33 million business trips taken were within

Germany. The mood became more positive; never-

theless all involved in the industry remained far

behind the record year 2019 in terms of what was

happening and how it was happening. As was the

case for German economic performance as a whole

in 2021, their work was still heavily impacted by

the pandemic and the accompanying measures

taken as well as by increasing staffing and materi-

als bottlenecks. In total, business trips increased

by 26% to 41.4 million in 2021 and expenditure

was 13.4 billion euros – both still well below their

pre-crisis levels.

(Figures 1–2, Page 7)

Downward trend dampened

but lasting

While in 2021 over 70% of all organisations still

expected a long-term decline in business trips, this

year the figure was between 55 and 63%. As in the

previous year, the organisations that expect a las-

ting reduction estimate it to be by an average of

30%.

(Figure 18, Page 22)

Longer trips:

Roomnights rescued

Post-pandemic, it seems that the trend towards

ever shorter business trips is turning around, the

attitude being “If you’re going to travel less fre-

quently, it might as well be for longer.” The average

duration of business trips rose across all company

sizes, amounting to 2.3 days overall. For accom-

modation providers that meant an initial recovery

of 39% to a total of 24.1 million overnight stays.

Smaller organisations remain the backbone of

“roomnights”. And even though domestic travel

naturally profited most as business travel slowly

began to be possible once again, the percentage

increase in overnight stays abroad was even stron-

ger, at 49%.

(Figures 4, 10 and 11, Pages 9 and 16)

Integrated mobility

management on the rise

The complexity of the tasks of business travel

managers has risen in the past twenty years in

terms of efficient spending, extensive duties of

care for business travellers, digital transformation,

safety issues, sustainability and much more. The

past two years have shown that crises are the right

time for networked specialists. Today, the majority

of companies already pools the many different

responsibilities connected to corporate mobility in

one place or is planning to do so within the next

one-to-two years.

Corporate bosses are generally still responsible

for emphasising the importance of integrated

mobility management: in smaller companies 71%

of it is under the responsibility of top management,

1 Key ﬁgures at a glance

Veränderung

in %

Key data 2021: 2020:

In 2021 there were 5.5 million business travellers + 67 % 3.3 million business travellers

41.4 million business trips led to expenditure of + 26 % 32.7 million business trips

13.4 billion euros translated into + 32 % 10.1 billion euros

147 euros per business traveller per day. –9% 161 euros

Change

in %

Chapter 1

in larger companies it is ever more common for a

travel management department to cover this topic

(51%).

(Figure 7, Page 13)

Spotlight on “temporary living”

Serviced apartments are an alternative for longer

on-location deployments and when combining

business and private trips. Today, serviced apart-

ments are booked by 18% of smaller and 23% of

larger companies. And of those business travel

managers who do not yet have this kind of hotel

alternative in their programme, they are willing to

consider it in one fifth of companies. The require-

ments are many and certification is important for

80% of respondents.

(Figures 12 and 13, Page 17)

Sustainability:

Accountability via reporting

With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting

Directive (CSRD), the EU is extending the duty to

carry out sustainability reporting on the environ-

ment, social issues and methods of corporate

governance to a much larger number of companies

than before. The share of companies that never-

theless responds with “we have no plans to do

this” is still high (28% of companies with over

500 employees). A total of 44% of organisations

in the public sector are still hesitant. Especially

in the areas of employee mobility and business

trips there is a lot of room for adjustments to

reduce aspects such as carbon emissions. As a

control instrument, most larger companies in par-

ticular integrate environmental key figures into

booking tools in advance of a trip.

(Figures 14 and 16, Pages 18 and 19)

A gap between ambition

and action?

Sustainable business operations are increasingly

shifting from being an option to being the rule. The

number of companies actively working towards

more sustainability in the business travel sector

has increased again in 2022. While two years ago,

72% of larger companies supported measures for

a better carbon footprint, this year the figure is

89%, and 80% for organisations in the public

sector. Nevertheless, the individual activities that

benefit sustainability are stagnating – although

partly on a high level – or are declining sightly.

Only sustainable mobility budgets as well as cor-

responding offerings to employees are being used

more frequently. 72% of business travel managers,

who are generally willing to spend more to com-

pensate for carbon emissions, see 1 to10% addi-

tional costs as acceptable.

(Figures 15 to 17, Page 18 ff.)

Here to stay:

“New Work” through digital

transformation

Digital transformation in communications and in

cooperation accelerated in 82% of companies due

to the pandemic. An identical number of employers

will continue to implement new, flexible work

models going forward. Mobile work and remote

work models are also gaining traction in cases

where it is not necessary for employees to be pre-

sent for a certain number of hours at the company’s

offices. Working from a desired location is permit-

ted by 54% of companies and one in four plans to

allow their employees to work from wher ever they

want worldwide.

(Figures 20 and 21, Page 24)

Chapter 2

2 Business travel: Facts and figures

Quantity

“

How many business trips were taken

in 2021?

”

Economic growth remained heavily impacted by

the pandemic and the measures taken as well as

by increasing supply and materials bottlenecks.

Nevertheless, the German economy was able to

recover somewhat from the slump of the previous

year. Price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP)

was up 2.7%.

After the number of business trips

had collapsed by 83% compared to the record

numbers in 2019 (195.4 million), it increased

again in 2021 by 26% to 41.4 million – but remai-

ned far short of the pre-crisis level. Companies with

over 500 employees made an above-average con-

tribution to this recovery, with a 39% rise in busi-

ness trips. 15% of companies are still not carrying

out any business trips at all. In the public sector,

too, 88% of organisations returned to official travel.

The majority of all business trips still take place

within Germany (80% in 2021, not illustrated).

Costs

“

How high was total business travel

spend in 2021?

”

Spending on business travel also declined sharply

for one year (from 55.3 billion euros in 2019 to

10.1 billion euros in 2020). This had dramatic con-

sequences for the hospitality and transport indus-

tries in particular. 2021 was a slight improvement

for the embattled service providers as travel started

up again. Correspondingly, business travel spend

rose by 32% at organisations. Here too, companies

with over 500 employees had an above-average

spend, with their costs rising by 45%.

See press release of the Federal

Statistics Ofﬁce, Wiesbaden,

14 January 2022.

Number of business trips in 2017– 2021

rganisations with

쐽 1

0 – 500 employees

쐽 o

ver 500 employees

100

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

otal Total Total Total Total

187.5 189.6 195.4 32.7 41.4mil.

3.3

156.3

3.0

54.5

Figure 1

36.0

59.4

6.9

33.0

Total cost of business travel in 2017– 2021

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Total Total Total Total Total

52.5 53.5 55.3 10.1 13.4bn €

11.9

40.6

12.2

41.3

Organisations with 쐽 10 – 500 employees 쐽 over 500 employees

13.0

42.3

8.0

Figure 2 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

2.1

10.2

3.2

Chapter 2

Any work-related trip that is recorded on the basis of individual expense reports counts in this study as a business trip.

The duration, purpose, distance and destination of the journey and the professional status of the travellers are insig-

niﬁcant here. As soon as expenditures are charged to the company or organisation as business travel expenses, they

are counted in these ﬁgures. Business travellers are employees of a company or public-sector organisation who take at least one

business or ofﬁcial trip per year.

For further deﬁnitions of the terms used here, please see the VDR Glossary:

www.vdr-service.de/glossar (in German only).

Due to the differences between the private sector (“businesses”/ “companies”) and the public sector, most results are presented

separately. The corresponding data basis is made clear in the respective passages: When reference is made to businesses or

companies, the public sector is excluded (“– excl. PS –”). When reference is made to organisations, this means both businesses

and institutions in the public sector. The category SMEs = Small and medium-sized enterprises refers to companies with 10–250

employees. When we speak of “smaller businesses” in this report, we mean companies with 10–500 employees.

Business travellers

“

How many people travelled on

business?

”

After what seemed like zero in the first year of the

pandemic in 2020, the number of business travel-

ers has begun to trend upwards again, but is still

far below the record 13 million in 2019. The need

for face-to-face meetings was noticeable every -

where in the business world throughout 2021, with

a total of 5.5 million business travellers on the

road, most of them from companies with up to 500

employees.

The story was similar in the public sector, where

official trips doubled; an average of 16% of public

service staff were on the road again, compared to

half before the pandemic. In larger companies, the

increase in business trips was spread much less

broadly than in 2019, since in the past two years

only about one in ten employees travelled for busi-

ness.

Breakdown of business travellers by company size in 2019/2021

ompanies with

0 – 250 employees

51 – 500 employees

501 – 1,500 employees

over 1,500 employees

% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

쐽 2

021

쐽 2

019

– excl. PS –

18%

20%

28%

11%

32%

37%

Figure 3 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

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Chapter 2

Duration

“

How long do business trips take?

”

While day trips without an overnight stay had been

gaining in popularity in the pre-crisis period, 2021

seems to be trending in the opposite direction, in

particular at SMEs. “If you’re going to travel less

frequently, it might as well be for longer.” The ave-

rage duration of business trips rose across all com-

pany sizes, amounting to 2.3 days overall. In com-

panies with over 1,500 employees, every fifth

business trip took four days or more. Day trips with

no overnight stay accounted for half of business

trips in 2021 – both in private industry and in the

public sector (not illustrated).

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Ø Average duration of business trips in days

Ø 2.2

Ø 2.0

Ø 1.6

Ø 2.3

Ø 1.9

Ø 1.7

Ø 2.3

Ø 1.9

Ø 2.0

Ø 2.4

Ø 2.1

Ø 2.3

쐽 up to 1 day 쐽 2–3 days 쐽 4 or more days

– excl. PS –

Figure 4 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

2021

2020

2019

2021

2020

2019

2021

2020

2019

2021

2020

2019

Duration of business trips by company size 2019 – 2021

57% 29%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

14%

49% 36% 15%

8%70% 22%

62% 27% 11%

50% 32% 18%

66%

25%

64% 24% 12%

49% 32% 19%

14%57% 29%

58% 26% 16%

48% 31% 21%

19%47% 34%

Companies with

10 – 250 employees

251 – 500 employees

501 – 1,500 employees

over 1,500 employees

3 Structure of business travel costs

Average costs

Average costs per business trip, at 334 euros, are

again higher than in the previous year, mainly due

to the further increase in the average duration of

trips in 2021; Expenditure per person per day drop-

ped quite signiﬁcantly to 147 euros. Both average

duration and expenditure rose for holiday trips, with

83 euros being spent per person per day.

Not least due to the boom in digital transformation

that came with the pandemic, it has become more

possible to play with combinations such as bundling

several business events, integrating a private week-

end here and there, or taking a longer “workation”.

Many countries and regions are now responding to

this trend by offering attractive special rates for

“digital nomads”.

This results in new topics to be

dealt with by all corporate mobility and HR mangers.

See Forschungsgemeinschaft Urlaub und

Reisen e.V. (FUR), Kiel: Initial results of

the 2022 travel report.

An international overview:

https://www.wfa.team/

digital-nomad-visas/

Our own calculations, in conjunction with FUR, Kiel: Initial results of the 2018–2022

travel reports. Business travel expenditure per person and per day: companies only, not the

public sector. Holiday trips of 5 days or longer.

Average cost per

Expenditure per person per day

business trip

Business travel Holiday travel

2021

334 € 147 € 83 €

2020 323 € 161 € 82 €

2019 312 € 162 € 83 €

2018 310 € 162 € 81 €

2017 307 € 157 € 83 €

Table 1 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Average cost per business trip in 2017 – 2021

Daily expenditures for business vs. holiday travel in 2017 – 2021

Chapter 3

See VDR Business Travel Report 2021,

Section 3, “Structure of business travel

costs”, Page 10, Figure 5.

See press release no. 041 of the Federal

Statistics Ofﬁce, Wiesbaden, 31 January

2022.

See press release no. 023 of the Federal

Statistics Ofﬁce, Wiesbaden, 31 March

2021.

See press release no. 041 of the Federal

Statistics Ofﬁce, Wiesbaden 31 January,

2022.

See https://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/

olympia/sportpolitik/

olympische-spiele-corona-lage-spitzt

-sich-zu-17459898.html

See https://www.businessinsider.de/

politik/welt/wer-mehr-als-373-grad

-koerpertemperatur-hat-ﬂiegt-raus-die

-extremen-corona-regeln-chinas-bei-den

-olympischen-spielen-b/

Note: Excluding costs for company cars,

car ﬂeet. Only costs that are reimbursed

after expense reports have been sub -

mitted by the traveller, as well as all

costs that are invoiced to the company

directly.

See VDR Business Travel Report 2021,

Chapter 3, “Structure of business travel

costs”, Page 11.

“

How high do you expect your

company’s total travel expenditure

to be in 2022?

”

(as at the end of the ﬁrst half of the year)

“Treading carefully” became the forced motto for

business travel managers last year. It was often

impossible to budget precisely as reliable planning

was not an option due to the many uncertainties.

Over half of both companies (51%) and public

sector organisations (56%) did not yet have a fixed

travel budget in the first six months of 2021.

On the interview date, a total of 67% of companies

were expecting double-digit increases in overall tra-

vel costs in the current year. 29% of companies

expected the same business travel costs as in

2021. 4% of companies expected a decrease in

business travel costs in 2022 compared to 2021.

Thus, the upward trend is likely to continue, provi-

ded that no sudden events occur that would again

paralyse business travel.

Cost areas

“

What were the totals for the

different cost areas in your

company / organisation?

”

The total costs for business travel rose from 2020

to 2021 by 3.3 billion euros (32%). However, the

percentage spread of spending across categories

remained stable. The highest rise in spending was

on overnight stays (39%, from 3.1 to 4.3 billion

euros), followed by transport costs (32%, from 4.6

to 6.1 billion euros).

There was a shift within the

category of transport costs: After air travel in par-

ticular suffered a huge decline in 2020, its share

rose again from 21% to 28%.

Around 73.6 million passengers took off or landed

on business or private trips at the 23 largest air-

ports in Germany in 2021. That’s 27.3% more

than in the previous year, but still 67.6% less than

in the record year 2019.

After air travel to key des-

tinations for business travellers had slumped in

2020 (USA -80%, China -88%)

, trips to the US

rose again by 25.4%. Of all global destinations

Asia was the only region that continued to decline

in terms of air travel (-12.1%).

When Asia

became the new epicentre of the pandemic in

2021, the extreme organisational measures intro-

duced for the Olympic Games in Japan in summer

2021

and for winter 2022 in China

made their

mark; participants, support teams and functiona-

ries are also counted as business travellers.

Total business travel spend broken down by cost areas in 2021

Transport

Overnight stays

Meals

Other costs

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

€ 4.3 bn

= 32%

€ 2 bn

= 15%

€ 1 bn

= 7%

Figure 5

쐽 Overland transport

쐽 Air travel

€ 1.7 bn

= 28%

€ 4.4 bn

= 72%

€ 6.1 bn

= 46%

Chapter 4

4 Travel Management:

Positioning and partnerships

“

Is travel management a separate area of

responsibility in your company?

”

See VDR Business Travel Report 2018,

Chapter 7 “Travel management:

Positioning and future”, Page 20,

Figure 18.

hether travel management is defined as a sepa-

rate area of responsibility depends on the size of

the company and its volume of business travel. The

complexity of tasks in this area has grown in the

past twenty years: Spending efficiency, extensive

duties of care for the business travellers, digital

transformation, safety issues, sustainability and

much more – the list of topics mobility managers

have to deal with these days shows how important

it can be to have them as a separate function

within the company.

Crises in particular are the right time for networked

specialists. Most of the largest companies have

a dedicated travel management department. The

potential to shape business travel is being better

recognised than in the past at companies with

251 to 1,500 employees; the share of companies

with their own travel management unit has increa-

sed in the past five years. And about one in ten

SMEs has its own dedicated travel management

department. However, at most SMEs certain travel

management tasks are often taken on by manage-

ment and their assistants, or by the Human Resour-

ces department.

Company travel policy

“

Does your company have a travel policy?

”

Almost every larger company surveyed has a travel

policy: At companies with over 1,500 employees

the share is 97%. At companies with 251-500

employees two out of three responded in the affir-

mative (69%). By contrast, about every second

SME uses a travel policy (48%), which could be

due to travel management less frequently being a

separate area of responsibility. So there is room for

improvement at many companies in terms of effi-

ciently and transparently regulating the planning,

booking, implementation and invoicing of business

trips (not illustrated).

Travel management as a separate area of responsibility

ompanies with

0 – 250 employees

51 – 500 employees

01 – 1,500 employees

over 1,500 employees

% 20% 40% 60% 80%

쐽 2022 쐽 2018 –

excl. PS –

10%

27%

15%

65%

Figure 6 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Chapter 4

In addition to business trips, this

includes commuting, travel between

subsidiaries, privately used mobility

offerings subsidised by the company.

Integrated mobility

management

“

Does your company have integrated

approaches to mobility and are you

pooling them in one place?

”

“

If yes, which area of the organisation

is responsible?

”

The majority of companies already pools the many

responsibilities associated with corporate mobility

in one place or plans to implement this in the next

one to two years. In the public sector, 65% of orga-

nisations state the same (not illustrated). In addi-

tion, corporate bosses are generally still responsi-

ble for emphasising the importance of integrated

mobility management

: In smaller companies

71% is under the responsibility of top manage-

ment, in larger companies it is ever more common

for a travel management department to cover this

topic (51%). The public sector primarily relies on

HR (42%), the travel management unit, or manage-

ment (34% each) (not illustrated).

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contact for sustainable employee mobility and

are happy to assist you with individual solutions.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

– excl. PS –

– Companies that are taking integrated approaches to mobility and are pooling them in one department of responsibility (right side) –

–multiple speciﬁcations possible –

Integrated mobility

71%

35%

18%

16%

11%

Management

Sustainability Management

Finance / Budget

Travel Management

Purchasing

Executive Secretary / Assistant or Ofﬁce Manager

Auditing / Controlling

– 5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

57%

51%

48%

24%

21%

20%

Management

Travel Management

Sustainability Management

Purchasing

Finance / Budget

Executive Secretary / Assistant or Ofﬁce Manager

Auditing / Controlling

– 4%

Figure 7 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Companies

with 10 – 500 employees

Companies

wiht over 500 employees

쐽 Yes, these programmes already exist

쐽 No, but we plan to install them in the next 1 to 2 years

쐽 No, nothing planned

Integrated mobility approaches Responsible department

33%

41%

24%

43%

33%

26%

Chapter 4

Collaborations with

Travel Management Companies

“

Does your company work with Travel

Management Companies?

”

“

If so, how do you rate the collaboration

in 2021?

”

In 2021, the second year of the pandemic, the

daily tasks and special challenges of the time con-

solidated collaboration with Travel Management

Companies (TMCs) on a high level, in particular at

larger companies, of whom 82% were supported

by TMCs. Every fifth large company had several

partnerships (not illustrated). As before, only about

every third smaller company works with a TMC. In

the public sector, 56% of organisations rely on

their professional support (not illustrated).

For 88% of all companies that work with at least

one TMC, the intensity remained the same or

increased – this is more or less the same experi-

ence as in the previous year.

Payment methods

“

How do you pay your

TMC partner(s)?

”

Most contracts continue to be based on the number

of transactions (84%). The importance of this type

of payment has risen compared to the previous

year. Contract modifications were interesting to

many companies. One new type is contact fees,

which every tenth company is now making use of.

The public sector chooses between the different

payment methods in a very similar manner to pri-

vate sector companies (not illustrated).

쐽 Collaborations became more important in 2021

쐽 Collaborations remained the same

쐽 Collaborations became less important in 2021

37%

51%

12%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

– excl. PS –

– Companies that work with Travel Management Companies (right side) –

Collaborations with Travel Management Companies in 2021

Figure 8 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Companies with 10 – 500 employees

Companies with over 500 employees

Percentage of companies that work with

at least one Travel Management Company:

Evaluation of cooperation with

Travel Management Companies 2021:

30%

82%

Figure 9 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Per transaction

(transaction fee)

Fixed fee (management fee)

Additional, performance-based fees

(bonus / malus system)

Service costs for consulting

(contact Fee)

We work with several partners with

different payment methods

Payment methods with Travel Management Companies 2021/2022

– excl. PS –

– Companies that work with Travel Management Companies –

– multiple speciﬁcations possible –

84%

67%

28%

31%

15%

21%

10%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

쐽 2022 쐽 2021

not surveyed

Chapter 4

“

Did you outsource tasks to your

TMC partners last year?

”

Very few organisations outsourced tasks in 2021.

Just 8% of companies, regardless of size, and 15%

of public sector travel managers that work with at

least one TMC decided to to this. When outsour-

cing did happen, the tasks were quite varied, from

designing the travel policy, to process optimisation,

travel cost billing, data consolidation and reporting,

online booking and payment solutions. Health and

safety topics were also put into the hands of a TMC

partner by some organisations (not illustrated).

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tailormade solutions for your Travel Management

program, you can contact Martina Eggler.

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m +49 171 835 1100 | www.atgglobaltravel.com

Chapter 5

5 Overnight stays, hotel purchasing

Overall trends

“

How often did the business trips taken

by the employees in your company /

organisation include overnight stays?

”

“

How were overnight stays distributed

between domestic and foreign accommo-

dations

”

After the dramatic decline in overnight stays,

accommodation providers were able to welcome

more business travellers again in 2021, with an

initial recovery of 39% to a total of 24.1 million

overnight stays. Larger companies made an above-

average contribution to this trend, with an increase

of 45%; this also correlates with the largest ave-

rage trip duration in companies with over 1,500

employees (2.4 days, see Figure 4, Page 9).

And even though domestic travel naturally profited

most as business travel slowly began to be possible

once again, the percentage increase in overnight

stays abroad was even stronger, at 49% (from 3.7

to 5.5 million). In terms of pure numbers, smaller

companies within Germany remained the backbone

of “roomnights”; SMEs mainly work within Ger-

many and cross borders less frequently. Their over-

all significance for the European economy is never-

theless huge: Two thirds of all employees in the

EU’s private sector work at SMEs that contribute

over 50% to industrial value creation.

In the sta-

tistical universe of this analysis, SME employees

account for 60%. (See Table 2, Page 28)

Corporate rates

“

What percentage of overnight stays

are booked via corporate rates at your

company?

”

The larger the company the more likely it is that

corporate rates are used: While 16% of SMEs use

these rates, the percentage is 43% for the largest

companies with the highest travel volumes. In the

public sector an average of every third overnight

stay is booked via corporate rates (not illustrated).

No analysis of the overnight categories booked was

carried out for 2020 and 2021. In this edition,

stronger focus is placed on serviced apartments as

a possible alternative to classical hotel offerings.

Longer stays have increased, but how about the wil-

lingness to use and the requirements placed on

“temporary living”?

Number of overnight stays = room-

nights

See https://www.europarl.europa.eu/

factsheets/de/sheet/63/kleine-und

-mittlere-unternehmen

Number of overnight stays in 2017– 2021

Organisations with 쐽 10 – 500 employees 쐽 over 500 employees

22.4

50.1

23.1

49.4

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Total Total Total Total Total

72.5 72.5 74.3 17.4 24.1mil.

Figure 10 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

24.4

49.9

12.9

6.5

17.6

4.5

Organisations with 쐽 10 – 500 employees 쐽 over 500 employees

Number of overnight stays in

Germany / abroad in 2020 /2021

in Germany abroad in Germany abroad

2020 2021

Total: 17.4 mil. Total: 24.1 mil.

Total Total Total Total

mil. 13.7 3.7 18.6 5.5

3.4

10.3

5.0

13.6

3.9

Figure 11 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

1.2

1.6

2.5

Chapter 5

Serviced apartments,

requirements

“

Does your company book serviced apart-

ments as an alternative to hotels?

”

18% of smaller and 23% of larger companies cur-

rently have serviced apartments in their portfolio.

And of those travel managers who do not yet use

this alternative to hotels, they are willing to consi-

der it in about one ﬁfth of companies. Since larger

companies are more likely to book longer stays and

trips abroad, they are also very slightly more likely

to be potential customers for serviced apartments.

In the public sector, 16% of organisations are

already making such bookings, for 65% the topic

is not relevant (not illustrated).

“

How important are the following criteria

when choosing an alternative to hotels for

your business travellers?

”

This question only looked at companies that book

or can imagine booking serviced apartments. For

many, certiﬁcation creates trust in the quality of the

product offered; This aspect is “somewhat impor-

tant” to “very important” for 80% of respondents.

As is always the case with labels, it is essential to

pay attention to the type of certiﬁcation in order to

ensure credibility and transparency. Self-catering

services are almost as important as certiﬁcation. It

is very important for just under every third respon-

dent that the business travellers can cater for them-

selves in the same building. Other services such as

wellbeing offerings are less important, but there is

some demand here all the same. Overall, the assess-

ments of public sector travel managers do not differ

to any signiﬁcant degree from those of the private

sector (not illustrated).

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vidual apartment sizes and comprehensive services

in the JOYN serviced apartments at ﬁve locations.

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Companies

with 10 – 500 employees

Companies

with over 500 employees

Booking of serviced apartments as an alternative to hotels

쐽 Booking of serviced apartments

쐽 Can imagine booking serviced apartments

쐽 No booking of service apartments – excl. PS –

18% 23% 59%

23% 25% 52%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 13 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Certiﬁcation (e.g. sustainability)

In-house catering offered

Personal, human contact at check-in/ check-out

Services like kitchen accessories,

additional cleaning etc.possible

Wellbeing offerings (e.g. gym, communal area)

Importance of criteria when choosing an alternative to a hotel

쐽 Very important 쐽 Somewhat important 쐽 Not so important 쐽 Not important at all

– excl. PS –

– Companies that book or can imagine booking serviced apartments –

28% 52% 16%

29% 43% 24%

19% 34% 31% 16%

10% 25% 42%

9% 25% 43%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

23%

Chapter 6

6 Climate protection and sustainability

Reporting

“

Does your company carry out reporting on

the topic of sustainable mobility?

”

Improvement measures

“

Do you already or do you plan to

implement measures in the area of

business travel to improve your

environmental footprint?

”

“

If yes, what measures do you (plan) to

implement to improve sustainability?

”

Sustainable business operations are increasingly

shifting from being an option to being the rule. This

year again, the percentage of companies that are

actively working towards more sustainability in the

area of business travel has risen. Only one-ﬁfth of

smaller companies have not yet become active.

While two years ago, 72% of larger companies

implemented or planned measures for a better car-

bon footprint, this year the ﬁgure is 89%. The

public sector is similarly active (80%, not illustra-

ted).

There seems to be a gap between ambition and

action, since individual activities that beneﬁt sus-

tainability are stagnating – although partly on a high

In the area of sustainability the motto is “you can’t

manage what you can’t measure”. In 2021, the EU

xtended its Corporate Sustainability Reporting

Directive (CSRD) with regard to the duty to carry

out sustainability reporting. This directive stipula-

tes that a much higher number of companies than

before

have to report extensively on the environ-

ment, social issues and methods of corporate gover-

nance. The impact of corporate activity on the envi-

ronment and society will have to be calculated and

described much more clearly than before, begin-

ning in ﬁscal 2023 management reports. In spite

of this, the percentage of companies that state they

have no plans to introduce this is quite high (28%

of companies with over 500 employees). In the

areas of employee mobility and business travel,

there is a lot of room for adjustments to reduce ase-

pects such as carbon emissions. In the public

sector, a total of 44% are still holding back in this

area (not illustrated).

All large companies and all companies

listed on the stock markets of regulated

markets (excluding very small listed

companies), see

https://ec.europa.eu/info/business

-economy-euro/company-reporting-and

-auditing/company-reporting/corporate

-sustainability-reporting_de

igure 14

ompanies

ith

0 – 500 employees

Companies

with ov

er 500 employees

Existence of sustainability reporting on mobility

쐽 Yes, we do integrated sustainability reporting on all areas of mobility

쐽 Yes, we do sustainability reporting on business trips only

쐽 No, but we plan to introduce this in the next 1 to 2 years

쐽 N

o, we have no plans to do this

32% 14% 28%26%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

– excl. PS –

Figure 15 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

2022

2021

2020

2022

2021

2020

Measures to improve environmental footprint 2020–2022

쐽 Yes 쐽 None yet, but planned 쐽 No – excl. PS –

42% 31% 27%

56% 24% 20%

23% 18% 59%

55% 30% 15%

59% 30% 11%

36% 36%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

28%

Companies

with

10 – 500 employees

Companies

with ov

er 500 employees

Chapter 6

level – or are declining sightly. On the other hand,

application and planning of sustainable mobility

udgets (2021: 43%, 2022: 66%) as well as cor-

responding programmes for employees (2021:

67%, 2022: 76%) have increased in importance.

Business travel volume is being reduced or will be

reduced at 83% of all companies (2021: 87%). On

routes within Germany, 62% of companies surveyed

switched from air to train travel (2021: 73%) and

14% plan to do this in the future (ﬁgure similar to

2021). 45% of respondents implement carbon

compensation and 30% plan to. The transport tran-

sition will become visible on Germany’s roads going

forward as the shift to electric vehicles in car ﬂeets

and rental cars has begun: 43% of respondents give

preference to electric vehicles and 40% plan to.

European train transport is likely to need to improve

in order to offer a good alternative for more business

travellers: Approximately one-quarter of companies

have made the shift (26%, 2021: 30%)

The pio-

neers are the 36% of companies that are already

travelling on sustainable aviation fuel or plan to do

so. As a control instrument, larger companies in par-

ticular integrate environmental key ﬁgures into boo-

king tools in advance of a trip (not illustrated).

VDR has also signiﬁcantly expanded its activities

here since December 2021. Over 100 interested

and committed members and non-members, provi-

ders and potential users were mobilised by the ini-

tiative for sustainable corporate mobility. The “VDR-

Nxt-Task-force” formed ﬁve teams to address the

following question: “What contribution does the

business mobility sector currently make towards

achieving sustainability targets and how can this

be further optimised?” Implementation tools were

developed as an aid. Each team’s results were made

accessible to VDR members and in part also to all

interested parties

.Once this work was completed,

a VDR expert team for sustainability was created,

with the aim of making further results available to

VDR members and the public, as well as observing

the market and taking into consideration potential

relevant changes in the future. The VDR Akademie

offers a range of seminars that emphasise modern

methods and dialogue; these are available to

anyone who wants to expand their knowledge

around designing, implementing and monitoring

measures for more sustainability in the area of cor-

porate mobility.

ECTI

LD.

TECTI

FUTUR

We, the Lufthansa Group, have contributed to the

progress of the aviation industry. Now we want to

lead it into a sustainable future. To achieve our ambi-

tious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 and

cutting our net carbon emissions in half by 2030, we

are continuously implementing a wide range of inno-

vative measures. Learn more at makechangeﬂy.com

See VDR Business Travel Report 2021,

Section 7 “Climate protection and

sustainability”, Page 20, Figure 24.

https://www.vdr-service.de/

nachhaltigkeit

The current training courses on the

topic of ”Sustainability in travel

management” are listed at

www.vdr-akademie.de/themen.

Demand is high and the courses are

quickly booked out.

(Planned) measures to promote sustainability

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Reduction in number of business trips

Shift from air to rail for travel within Germany

Sustainable offerings for employees (e.g. promotion of

cycle-to-work measures, transport tickets for commuters

compensation

Preferential use of electric vehicles (car ﬂeet, rental cars)

Sustainable mobility budget

Integration of environmental key ﬁgures in booking tools

Shift from air to rail for travel in Europe

In aviation: Replacement of fossil fuel with sustainable

aviation fuel (SAF = Sustainable Aviation Fuel)

66% 17%

62% 14%

60% 16%

45% 30%

43% 40%

35%

33%

26%

10%

31%

27%

쐽 We currently have them this 쐽 Planned – excl. PS –

16%

26%

Figure 16 © VDR Business Travel Report 2022

Chapter 6

쐽 Sustainable business operations are

increasingly becoming the rule and

corporate mobility is an important part

of that. From your perspective, what

are the biggest challenges to ensuring

businesses in particular can make an

effective contribution here?

During the Covid lockdowns, video confe-

rences had to replace in-person meetings and

conferences. Even if virtual meetings are not

a completely satisfactory substitute for busi-

ness trips and face-to-face encounters, they

can nevertheless complement them well.

They can help avoid cost-intensive travel and

large environmental footprints. Many compa-

nies are already focussing on reducing their

environmental footprint around travel. Choo-

sing a climate-friendly mode of transport or

compensating for emissions are already a fre-

quent occurrence.

However, it’s very clear to me that business

travel will continue in the future. I think the

Claudia Müller, MdB,

Federal Government Coordinator for the

Maritime Industry and Tourism,

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and

Climate Action:

challenge is to find a good balance between

trips that are really necessary and being flex -

ible and open enough to continue using vir-

tual alternatives where possible.

쐽 Regarding new work models, could

you sketch out your ideal workplace of

the future?

Business trips may often seem very

appealing, but at the same time they are fre-

quently an additional burden for employees,

who sometimes have to deal with different

time and climate zones. This puts pressure

on the human organism, while at the same

time the travellers have to perform well pro-

fessionally. Ideally, business trips would take

external conditions into consideration. Con-

flicts with family responsibilities also need to

be considered. These are all aspects that

should be factored into an ideal workplace.

To my mind, finding balance on an individual

level is the right path towards the workplace

of the future.

Pricing

“

Would you be willing to pay extra for carbon

compensation?

”

“

Assuming a business trip (including transport,

overnight stays etc.) costs 1,000 euros, how much

would your company pay for carbon compensation?

”

The attitude towards additional costs to contribute towards more

sustainability is similar across all company size categories and in

the public sector. Over half are willing to compensate monetarily

for the carbon emissions they cause. The amount is also clear for

most organisations: 72% of business travel managers in compa-

nies consider 1 to 10% on top acceptable. That translates into a

range of 10 to 100 euros for a 1,000-euro trip.

“

Should carbon compensation offered by a service

provider like an airline be directly integrated into the

price or should it be possible to book it on top?

”

When it comes to the technicalities of processing this kind of com-

pensation payment, 41% of companies would be satisfied if it was

a flexible booking option on top. For about one-third of companies,

both alternatives would be interesting, i.e. either integrated into

the price or flexibly on top. Business travel managers in the public

sector are of a similar mindset (not illustrated).

Up to 1 per cent

Up to 5 per cent

Up to 10 per cent

Up to 15 per cent

Over 15 per cent

I don’t know

Willingness to pay for CO

compensation

– excl. PS –

– Companies that are willing to pay for CO

compensation (right side) –

39%

33%

0% 20% 40%

쐽 Yes 쐽 No 쐽 I don't know

36%

56%

Willingness to pay Amount willing to pay

Chapter 7

7 Changes due to and post-pandemic

Travel volume

“

What do you expect to happen: Will

business travel activity decrease lastingly

over the next three to ﬁve years compared

to the pre-crisis year of 2019, and if yes

by what percentage?

”

The shock of the pandemic is abating, not just in

our everyday life but also in terms of how people pre-

dict lasting reductions in business travel volumes.

While over 70% of all organisations expected a las-

ting decline in 2021, this year it was between

55% and 63%. The organisations that expect a

lasting reduction estimate it to be similar to the

average figure estimated in the previous year

(30%, not illustrated). The added value a business

trip generates will be taken into consideration to

a greater extent in the future: Corporate goals, cus-

tomer expectations and employee needs have to

be aligned.

Companies

with

10 – 500 employees

Companies

with ov

er 500 employees

Public sector

Expected lasting reduction in travel activity compared to pre-crisis year 2019–2021 / 2022

쐽 Agree completely 쐽 Tend to agree 쐽 Tend to disagree 쐽 Totally disagree

41% 31% 12%16%

27% 28% 24%21%

30% 33% 18%19%

27% 33% 16%24%

42% 38% 14% 6%

48% 33% 8% 11%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

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business travel with SAP Concur

Sustainability is top of mind for many business

travelers. With SAP Concur, you can easily

incorporate sustainable policies into your travel

program, reduce carbon emissions and make

better decisions. This is good for the environment

and to achieve sustainability goals.

Use of private cars and

carsharing services

Private cars were used more in the past two years,

since social distancing to keep the risk of catching

Covid low meant that people switched away from

air, train and bus travel. Private vehicles were given

preference over carsharing services. In about half

of the larger companies and in the public sector,

business travellers used their own cars more – anot-

her reason being the frequent outages of transport

connections due to the pandemic. And use of car -

sharing services also increased at around a quarter

of organisations during the pandemic.

Companies

with 10 – 500 employees

Companies

with over 500 employees

Public sector

Use of private cars and carsharing offerings on business trips during the pandemic

쐽 Agree completely 쐽 Tend to agree 쐽 Tend to disagree 쐽 Totally disagree

18% 22% 44%16%

24% 25% 15%

36%

34%

26% 25% 15%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Use of private cars on business trips

rose during the pandemic.

Use of carsharing offerings on business trips

rose during the pandemic.

11% 13% 60%16%

11% 15% 16%

58%

59%

12% 10% 19%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Chapter 7

Digital transformation and

work models

“

Did the pandemic inﬂuence the

digital transformation process in your

company?

”

“

To what extent is your company looking

at new and ﬂexible work models for the

post-pandemic era?

”

At first, the pandemic threw the working world into

disarray, but it has had some positive impact in

the longer term: Established processes had to be

rethought, and new, digitally supported ways of

working were given an opportunity to shine. Digital

transformation in communications and teamwork

experienced a boom, accelerating in 82% of com-

panies. This was stated by companies of all sizes

and the same effect is also confirmed by 83% of

public sector organisations (not illustrated).

The biggest and most impactful change is in the

location of work. New, flexible work time models

will continue to be implemented by 82% of com-

panies going forward. At least some people with

occupations that can be carried out from anywhere

online as long as they have a good internet con-

nection will migrate to working from home.

Less commuting and traffic jams and more data

traffic is generally good for environmental sustai-

ability. Another benefit could be a better work/life

balance. Hybrid work is here to stay – now it’s all

about designing it well.

Mobile work and remote work models are also gai-

ning traction in cases where it is not necessary for

employees to be present for a certain number of

hours at the company’s offices. A quarter of com-

panies plan to grant their employees unrestricted

permission to work from wherever they choose

worldwide. One fifth of public sector organisations

say the same (21%, not illustrated). And those

who can plan a “workation” combine free-time and

holidays with a longer stay at their desired loca-

tion. Legal and insurance-related matters are still

being reviewed at 42% of companies.

A current study on urban and rural

igration patterns indicates a growing

interest in rural living after years of

urbanisation:

ttps://www.berlin-institut.org/

studien-analysen/detail/landlust-neu

-vermessen

See https://www.

humanresourcesmanager.de/content/

hybride-arbeitsmodelle-strategien-

und-tipps/

Inﬂuence of pandemic on digitalisation

쐽 Strongly accelerated 쐽 Slightly accelerated

쐽 No inﬂuence 쐽 Slowed it down

48% 34% 14%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

– excl. PS –

Topics around new work models after pandemic

– excl. PS –

24%

42%

82%

54%

Future implementation of new,

ﬂexible worktime models

Working from desired location permitted

subject to limitations (regional, Germany-wide)

Working from desired location

permitted with no limitations

Legal and insurance-related

matters checked

Chapter 7

“

Will new and ﬂexible work models

inﬂuence business travel at your

company? To what extent do you

agree with these statements?

”

Over half of all organisations, both in the private

and public sector, expect that the reorganisation

of work models will require more flexibility in tra-

vel planning as employees demand it more. This

will also frequently entail any existing travel poli-

cies being redefined. But the over 70% of all orga-

nisations do not share the prediction that a much

higher number of business travellers will become

commuters.

쐽 Sustainable business operations are increa-

singly becoming the rule and corporate mobility

is an important part of that. From your

perspec tive, what are the biggest challenges to

ensuring businesses in particular can make

an effective contribution here?

First of all, transparency must be created so that busi-

ness travellers know the “footprint” of a business trip,

i.e. the carbon consumption of the different modes

of transport, also as compared against video confe-

rences. That way, already at the planning stage, they

Christoph Carnier,

VDR president,

Senior Director Travel,

Fleet & Events at

Merck KGaA

can weigh up which way makes most sense. But some

business trips cannot be replaced by video confe-

rences. In such cases, the cost must be compensated

for. So in future, a good balance between environment

and cost aspects must be found in order to make a

contribution towards sustainability.

쐽 Regarding new work models, could you sketch

out your ideal workplace of the future?

I think it’s still too early to draw a clear picture, since

the requirements are very different in different com-

panies. Some things can be dealt with completely

remotely, but many activities require physical pre-

sence in a team. And when companies want to share

their corporate philosophy and culture with their

employees, remote work reaches its limits very

quickly. In the end, there will probably be a mix of

both models in various shapes. As it’s still quite new,

there’s not much experience to go on. Many things

are also not yet clear, from defining the regular work-

place location to the settlement of travel costs by the

company that goes along with that.

Impact of new work models on business travel sector

New work models require a redeﬁnition

of the travel policy.*

Employees will demand more ﬂexibility

in their travel planning in future.

The willingness to travel for business

increases with the new work models.

If working from home becomes the rule,

commuters will become business travellers.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

쐽 Companies with 10 – 500 employees

쐽 Companies with over 500 employees

쐽 Public sector

60%

55%

62%

54%

61%

37%

42%

44%

22%

25%

20%

*only companies that have a travel policy

Chapter 8

8 Outlook

Emerging with clarity from the crisis

“

Crises are generally unpredictable and uncontrol-

lable, but they also create openness for the new.

They are a turning point that can lead to a negative

or a positive outcome. Crises can be a temporary

phenomenon or they can lead to a fundamental

questioning of established practices and instituti-

ons. Crises can hone awareness and willingness to

develop new ideas and solutions.”

In view of the fact that we are dealing today with

several concurrent crises that are requiring change

in all areas of industry and society, it would seem

very difficult to gain anything positive from them.

While in 2020 humanity was struggling to agree

on whether hand-washing, social distancing, masks

and quarantining contributed to flattening the cur-

ves of repeated Covid-19 waves, the upcoming

challenges are of a different scale altogether. Since

February, we have been confronted with the addi-

tional burden of the Ukraine war and its devasta-

ting consequences.

Globally, the climate crisis and the loss of biodiver-

sity are tidal waves that need to be not just flatte-

ned but halted. On 4 May 2022, people living in

Germany had already consumed the volume of envi-

ronmental resources the planet can renew per per-

son in an entire year. Some of the reasons for this

are the ongoing overconsumption of energy and the

high carbon emissions caused by transport. Extra-

polated to the global population, our lifestyle would

require an area three times the size of the planet.

rafft, A. (2022). Ursachen und

Folgen von Krisen. In: Unsere Hoffnun-

gen, unsere Zukunft. Springer, Berlin,

eidelberg, S. 59 ff.

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date

n which humanity’s demand for envi-

ronmental resources and services in

a certain year exceeds what the planet

can regenerate in that year. See

https://www.zeit.de/wissen/

umwelt/2022-05/overshoot-day

-ressourcen-verbrauch-deutschland

-klimawandel-nachhaltigkeit

sowie https://perspective-daily.de/

article/2027-klimakrise-diese-6-hebel

-koennen-uns-noch-retten/gqaCbWFF

The Telegraph 10 April 2013:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/

news/Bill-Clinton-praises-tourisms

-power-for-peace/

he pathways towards solutions are clear. In colla-

boration with government, companies can embark

on many of them, such as redesigning infra-

structure, decarbonising energy systems, shaping

workplaces, mobility and processes more effi-

ciently in terms of resources, redirecting the flow

of finance.

The words of Bill Clinton at the Global Summit of

the World Travel and Tourism Council in 2013 ring

truer today than ever. He forecast that in the sub-

sequent 20 years, the travel industry would lead

the charge in rethinking policy on the energy indus-

try. And that peace is the prerequisite and engine

of everything that comes next. “Peace works better

than conflict, and one of the best manifestations

of it is in travel and tourism.”

We can choose to confront the crises constructively

and with a will to reshape the world, or we can

choose paralysis. As individuals, as companies and

organisations, as those responsible for regions and

countries, it helps to focus in the next 20 years on

what humanity has created and can create. This

can bring positive change.

The German Business Travel Association

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Partner

discounts

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Tools

Know-how

Knowledge

transfer

Political

lobby

Methodology and credits

Methodology

As in previous years, the statistical universe for the

study is constituted by all businesses that have their

headquarters in Germany – including those that

have operations abroad – and organisations in the

public sector with ten or more employees. On the

basis of these features, the four different sectors –

manufacturing/construction, services, trade and the

public sector (PS) – are equally represented. The

same weight is given to the four different size cate-

gories. Due to the differences between the private

sector (“businesses”/“companies”) and the public

sector, most results are presented separately. The

corresponding data basis is made clear in the

respective passages:

■ When reference is made to businesses or compa-

nies, the public sector is excluded (“– excl. PS –”).

■ When reference is made to organisations, this

includes both companies/businesses and insti-

tutions in the public sector.

2022 Respondent sectors of industry

쐽 Trade/ installation and repair of

vehicles and consumer goods

쐽 Other public and personal services

쐽 Manufacturing

쐽 Public administration/ defence/

social security

쐽 Construction

쐽 Transport/ communication services

쐽 Credit and insurance trade

쐽 Hospitality

쐽 Health care/ veterinary medicine/

social work

쐽 Education and training (1%)

쐽 Real estate/ housing/rental

services (1%)

25%

24%

18%

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

Number of organisations in Germany and their employees according to size categories

and industry sector (NACE 2003)

– As at: 2021 –

– excluding organisations with 1 – 9 employees –

Source: own calculations, in conjunction with statistics from the Federal Employment Agency, Data Centre, Nuremberg. Calculation based on NACE 08 (2020 and 2021) and NACE 03 (2008)

Organisational size categories (organisations with ... employees)

10 – 250 251 – 500 501 – 1,500 over 1,500 Total

Organisations Employees Organisations Employees Organisations Employees Organisations Employees Organisations Employees

Total 468,256 16,742,878 9,743 3,365,895 4,428 3,759,786 1,343 4,116,862 483,770 27,985,421

Table 2

2022 Respondent areas of responsibility

38%

35%

22%

11%

10%

Travel Management

Executive Secretary /

Assistant or Ofﬁce Manager

Management

Auditing / Controlling

Finance / Budget

Purchasing

Other activity

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

– 1%

– multiple speciﬁcations possible –

A random sample was taken from this statistical

universe. Between February and May 2022, 800

computer-assisted telephone and online interviews

were conducted with persons who are responsible

for managing business travel or who are authorised

by their organisations to provide the relevant data.

The responses to qualitative questions reflect the

situation at the time of the survey, while all others

are based on the 2021 figures. All extrapolations

without reference to secondary sources are based

on a special evaluation of statistics from the

German Federal Employment Agency (see Table 2

above).

Exact figures are used when calculating percen-

tage changes (for example total annual expendi-

ture on business trips). This explains why calcula-

tions using the rounded figures shown in the texts

and charts sometimes lead to slightly different

results after the decimal point.

The following organisation size categories have

been defined for this analysis:

■ Organisations with 10−250 employees

■ Organisations with 251−500 employees

■ Organisations with 501−1.500 employees

■ Organisations with over 1.500 employees

The research team

VDR, the publisher of this report, has since 2003

defined the basic structure of the analysis in con-

sultation with its members and each year selects

topical questions to be examined, some of them

suggested by readers. Research for Future AG is

responsible for the field work and scientific evalua-

tion of the primary data, which is gathered by ARIS

Umfrageforschung Markt-, Media- und Sozialfor-

schungsges. mbH. Antje Adam, Sandra Waldinger

(VDR) and Claudia Mock (Research for Future)

work with project manager Kirsi Hyvaerinen (HYVÄ

Coaching & Consulting) on the expert analysis,

reporting and organisational supervision of this

study. Volunteers also contribute their expert

knowledge to each year’s report, including Inge Pir-

ner and Olaf Lehmann from the Presidential Com-

mittee of VDR, as well as leaders of VDR expert

committees as appropriate for each specific topic.

VDR – The German Business Travel

Association e.V.

VDR - The German Business Travel Association

represents the interests of German business with

respect to all aspects of business travel manage-

ment. The aim is to ensure that worldwide business

travel is efficient, economical, safe and unimpe-

ded. With over 560 member companies, the Ger-

man Business Travel Association represents a total

business travel turnover of more than twelve billion

euros per year (2019).

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charge at www.gescha eftsreiseanalyse.de.

The contents of this document are protected by copyright. Changes, abridged versions, additions

and supplements as well as any publication or translation, or commercial or educational use by

third parties must ﬁrst be approved in writing by VDR. Duplication is only permitted for personal

use and only on condition that this copyright notice is reproduced on the duplicated document.

Quotations from the VDR Business Travel Report 2022 are permitted, provided they contain a refe-

rence to the source as well as to the secondary sources indicated in the report. A ﬁle copy would

be greatly appreciated.

Published by

Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. (VDR)

(VDR – The German Business Travel Association)

Darmstaedter Landstr. 125

D-60598 Frankfurt am Main

Phone +49 69 695229 0

Fax +49 69 695229 29

info@geschaeftsreiseanal yse.de

www.geschaeftsreiseanalyse.de

info@vdr-service.de

www.vdr-service.de

Layout

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D-64283 Darmstadt

Phone +49 170 1880964

kmd_da@t-online.de

Translation

Susan Ring

www.ringinterpreting.de

Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. (VDR)

Original edition 2022

Photo credits:

Darmstaedter Landstr. 125

D-60598 Frankfurt am Main

Phone +49 69695229 0

Fax +49 69695229 29

[email protected]

www.geschaeftsreiseanalyse.de

info@vdr-service.de

www.vdr-service.de

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