European travel managers believe the Trump Administration will make travel to the US more expensive

New insight from Business Travel Show Europe has revealed nearly half (48%) of European travel and procurement managers and bookers believe it will be more expensive to travel to and from the United States with the new Trump Administration in situ.

Over one third (35%) also believes it will be more difficult to travel to and from the United States now the Republican Party are in power, and 44% agree that President Trump’s threatened removal of climate change quotas will dilute the pressure for corporates to expedite sustainable travel programmes.

When asked if their organisations are more or less likely to travel to/from the United States, 9% said more but 12% said less. 29% of the 115 survey respondents answered, ‘I don’t know’, leaving a potential maximum of 24% to believe travel will be cheaper now Trump is in the White House.

Business Travel Show Europe Marketing Director Jonathan Carter-Chapman says: “The Trump Administration has only been in power for two months and policies that may affect corporate travel – trade tariffs, flight bans, possible environment legislation, and more – are still in a state of flux so it’s impossible to know for certain what the impact will be on travel and travellers to and from the United States. Despite that, many travel managers are proceeding with caution and, given the continued pressure to cut costs, are concerned.

“Our opening session at this year’s Business Travel Show Europe hosted buyer conference is called, ‘How geopolitics will reshape your company’s travel programme’ and looks at how the shifting geopolitical environment will impact business travel destinations, frequency and cost of business trips, as well as the risks travellers face. Delegate will discover what the new global risk map looks like and how to re-strategise their travel programmes accordingly.”

ETA/ETIAS

Closer to home, the survey also revealed that 83% of respondents are familiar with the UK’s ETA scheme and the EU’s ETIAS scheme, which will both come into effect in the final quarter of the year. Only 14% were not.

115 corporate travel and procurement professionals, EAs and PAs polled in March 2025. 78% of these were travel managers, 17% in procurement and 5% EAs/PAs. The geographical split was UK – 36%, Europe – 47%, RoW – 17%.

Business Travel Show Europe returns to ExCeL London from 25-26 June 2025 and will run alongside TravelTech Show and The Meetings Show to bring together over 700 qualified buyers and 200 exhibitors for high-level, in-person networking and a premium conference programme.

The article European travel managers believe the Trump Administration will make travel to the US more expensive first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.