Morgan Stanley analyst Jamie Rollo conducted an online survey of 135 corporate travel managers responsible for about $8 billion in travel spend with a global spread of operations, and shared the findings.
The survey, which is Morgan Stanley’s 21st annual Global Hotel Corporate Travel Survey, has historically been a reasonable guide to future RevPAR growth, says the analyst.
Respondents expect their 2024 travel budgets to be, on average, ~8% above 2023, writes the analyst.
According to the analyst, it is encouraging that budgets appear to be holding up well given the growing macroeconomic uncertainty, and 8% is well above consensus expectations for just about 2% RevPAR growth in 2024.
About 40% of respondents said that their companies have returned to pre-COVID travel levels, a marked increase compared to the analyst’s May 23 / Oct 22 surveys.
Room rates are expected to increase by 5% YoY on average in 2024, ranging from 4-5% in the U.S./U.K. to -1% in China, notes the ...