The State of Corporate Travel and Expense 2022 11 SKIFT + TRIPACTIONS Creative, flexible solutions will certainly define spend management in the near-term. But how these adaptive strategies will endure over time remains to be seen, once the workplace and business travel assumptively return to pre-pandemic norms. Based on business travel spending forecasts, it will be interesting to see how the tension between remote work and hitting the road, rails, and f riendly skies plays out. According to the GBTA, spending is poised to regain its pre-pandemic muscles . In its latest exhaustive analysis of business travel, the GBTA projects a 21 percent increase in business travel spending by the end of 2021, as vaccinations increase globally and consumer confidence returns. Looking ahead, the GBTA expects annual business travel spending growth “to remain well above historical average rates of growth of 4.6 percent” and come close to the 2019 pre-pandemic revenue peak of $1.43 trillion by 2024. How each of these forecasts evolve remains a matter of considerable debate among governments and corporations alike. In fact, at the time of this report’s publication, the ultimate long-term trajectory of the Delta variant continues to be in flux. Some industry observers believe the current wave of infections may be cresting , which could ultimately result in a more rapid return of business travel and spending than previously estimated. But some signals suggest a return; it’s just a matter of predicting when that may happen.