Top 5 frictions between CFOs, travel managers and employees in travel management
Business travel is under scrutiny. This is reflected in the latest SAP Concur survey, which highlights the trade-off between cost savings, employee safety and the value of face-to-face interaction, which, in the age of online meetings, fuels an ongoing debate between those who want to travel for work again, and those who prefer to keep their activities in digital format.
The latest annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey 2025 highlights, for the first time, the differences in perceptions and friction between business travelers, travel managers and chief financial officers (CFOs). These are the main areas of disagreement:
1. Travel in the digital age
In Spain, the survey reveals that the vast majority (96%) of business travelers consider travel to be useful, and even essential, for success in their work.
However, globally, 43% of CFOs believe that most of this travel could be effectively replaced by virtual meetings, as they do not consider such travel essential. This perception leads one in three travel managers (33%) to see digitization as a direct threat to the future of business travel.
2.Travel: intention and concern
82% of Spanish business travelers would be willing to travel in the next 12 months of the year, up from 75% in 2023.
Despite employees' high willingness to travel, nearly half (45%) of CFOs globally believe that employees' unwillingness to travel could negatively affect the health of the company in the coming year, and 35% of travel managers believe that employees' unwillingness to travel poses a threat to business travel.
3.Mismatch in budget vision
When it comes to budgets, the survey reveals clear differences of opinion between the different profiles. On this point, more than half (54%) of Spanish business travelers believe that the travel budgets allocated in their company will remain stagnant or even decrease this year.
In contrast, only 24% of CFOs globally and 22% of travel managers hold this statement, suggesting a disconnect between employee perceptions and management's financial outlook.
4.Who makes the decisions
There is a perception gap about who influences business travel decision making. Spanish business travelers say that CFOs (51%) and travel managers (30%) are the most influential decision-makers, well ahead of themselves, who claim only 19% influence.
Globally, travel managers consider their influence on the organization to be comparable to that of CFOs (43% vs. 41%), well ahead of the 16% they attribute to business travelers themselves. Global CFOs disagree, with 69% ranking as the most influential decision-maker, well ahead of travel managers (21%) and travelers themselves (9%).
5.Cost-driven travel
Two-thirds of Spanish business travelers (63%) say they have cut back on important trips due to costs. Accordingly, 69% of global travel managers believe that budgets do not adequately reflect the importance of business travel to the success of their organizations.
Although CFOs acknowledge the problem, their opinions are divided: 51% somewhat agree that budget constraints limit employees' ability to travel as much as they need to, while only 29% strongly agree.
In the words of João Carvalho, director SAP Finance & Spend Management, Southern Europe, “professional development and the generation of new opportunities through travel are only possible if all profiles within the organization are aligned with common objectives”.
The SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey 2025, conducted by market research firm Wakefield Research, includes findings from business travelers around the world in 24 countries, as well as CFOs and Travel Managers.
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