Navan, the leading all-in-one business travel, payments, and expense management platform, today released its quarterly Navan Business Travel Index (BTI) showing a 20% YoY increase in business travel activity in third quarter of 2025 year (Q3, 2025). This far exceeds the 0.6% YoY growth seen in TSA travel data during the same period.
Spend growth continues to outpace volume growth: The divergence between air, hotel, and expense spend and volume continues to widen, especially internationally, where the gap expanded from a 7% difference to a 12% difference in one year.
Key industries fuel growth: The Government & Public Sector experienced the biggest YoY growth in overall travel spend and volume at 28% during Q3, followed by Financial Services up 24% and Media & Entertainment also up 24% YoY.
In-destination transportation spend increases: How people travel around their destinations was a key investment area, with strong YoY growth in Taxi & Rideshare up 20%; Public Transport, Tolls & Parking up 20%; and Black Cars up 13%.
Client entertainment spend slows: The only category to decline YoY in Q3 was Entertaining Clients, down 0.8%. Notably, however, per-transaction spend in this category increased 9% YoY, suggesting that companies may be investing more in fewer, bigger-ticket events.
“This quarter’s Navan Business Travel Index isn’t just about clear trends; in our view, it’s a strong indicator of how modern businesses are allocating capital to support growth, and we’re seeing a deliberate strategy unfold,” said Amy Butte, Chief Financial Officer at Navan.
The Navan Business Travel Index is designed to be a global indicator of the strength of the business travel economy, powered by millions of transactions from more than 10,000 businesses on the Navan platform.
