Travel managers in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa project higher budgets and corporate travel volumes above pre-pandemic levels this year, according to Cvent’s recently published installment of its Travel Manager Report.

The study, which complied results from 250 travel managers in Asia, 100 in Australia and 150 in the Middle East in Africa in the first half of November, showed 80 percent said their travel budgets would be higher in 2023 than in 2019, with about a third saying the increase will be significant. Travel managers in the Middle East and Africa were most bullish about recovery, with 82 percent of respondents saying corporate travel volumes at their organization would be higher than 2019. Three-quarters of respondents in Australia said the same, as did 74 percent in Asia.

At the same time, many travel managers in the regions are scrutinizing travel at their company, according to the survey. In Australia, 46 percent of respondents said they were measuring cost versus value of trip, looking at cost as well as sustainability impact to see whether a trip is necessary. Forty-five percent of travel managers in Asia and 42 percent in the Middle East and Africa reported the same approach.

Buyers in the region also overwhelmingly are interested in dual and dynamic rates with hotels, according to the survey. More than 80 percent in each region said their interest in that approach was higher for the 2023 request-for-proposals season.