Employees still see business travel as valuable to their work, but they consistently report that traveling for business is stressful, according to a survey by SAP Concur reported by Business Travel Executive.

The finding lands at a moment when travel managers are under pressure to sustain trip volumes after the post-pandemic recovery in corporate demand. If employees view road travel as both professionally worthwhile and personally taxing, the practical consequence for travel sellers and corporate travel buyers is straightforward: policy design, booking experience, and duty-of-care provisions now directly affect whether travelers accept trips — and how often they book.

SAP Concur, the travel and expense arm of SAP, surveyed employees on their attitudes toward business travel. The headline result is a split verdict: travelers credit work trips with real professional value, yet they describe the experience of traveling as a source of stress. That tension matters for anyone selling managed travel, because perceived traveler friction feeds directly into program outcomes — from booking compliance to trip approval rates.

For travel management companies and corporate booking platforms, the survey signals where product investment should concentrate. Stress in business travel typically accumulates at the seams of a trip: itinerary changes, expense reporting, approval friction, and disruption recovery. Concur's own commercial position rests on reducing exactly that friction through integrated booking and expense workflows, a context worth weighing when evaluating the findings.

For corporate buyers, the data point reinforces a trend already visible across the managed travel sector: traveler well-being has moved from a soft topic to a procurement criterion. Companies that treat traveler experience as a measurable input — rather than a post-trip complaint category — are better positioned to keep trip acceptance rates high as volumes recover.

The survey's dual finding also frames the challenge for suppliers. Hotels and airlines courting corporate contracts increasingly face buyers who ask not only about rates and availability but about attributes that reduce traveler strain: predictable schedules, flexible rebooking, and streamlined payment and expense integration.

SAP Concur has not broken out regional figures or sample sizes in the reporting available, so buyers should treat the directional finding — value up, stress persistent — as the operative signal rather than a precise market measurement.

Going forward, expect travel managers to translate this kind of survey data into program changes, from policy flexibility to better-supported itineraries, as organizations work to keep employees willing to travel while volumes climb.