Almost every business traveller surveyed by American Express plans to attend a sporting fixture, concert or festival on a work trip this year, and the card giant has named Manchester as one of only three international cities where its corporate customers are spending noticeably more.
American Express published its latest Amex Trendex: Business Travel Edition on 4 August 2026, reporting that 93% of business travellers surveyed will take in a major event such as a sporting fixture, concert, festival or cultural occasion while travelling for work in 2026, using the occasion to build relationships and separate themselves from rivals. Alongside the survey, the company flagged Manchester, Hyderabad in India and Adelaide in Australia as the international destinations where commercial customer transactions are climbing fastest, plus five US cities: St Louis, Providence, Tempe, Fort Lauderdale and Reno.
For UK readers, the Manchester listing matters most. Amex points to a strong regional economy, a growing reputation as an AI hub, public money behind a new science and innovation campus and the ongoing rebuilding of the city’s airport as the reasons corporate travel to the North West is rising. Manchester Airport’s owner MAG has committed £440m to the final phase of its £1.3bn transformation programme, work that will continue to change what travellers flying through Manchester Airport can expect on the ground.
Hospitality is being treated as business development
The survey suggests entertaining has shifted from a nice-to-have to a measurable sales tactic. Some 85% of business travellers and decision-makers agreed that taking a client or prospect to a major event can beat traditional activities such as a dinner for building relationships, and 82% of travellers said they were more likely to win new business after hosting someone at one. Roughly half reported concrete outcomes, with 49% saying such experiences generated new opportunities and 48% saying they retained or expanded existing accounts. A further 84% described the approach as a more creative route to business development that helps their company stand out.
That fits a year already tilted towards big fixtures and a market in which business travel budgets are forecast to grow, even as cost saving remains the leading priority for travel executives.
The admin bill behind the entertaining
The less glamorous finding concerns the tools used to book and settle all this travel. Business travellers still use an average of three separate tools per trip to handle booking, payment and expenses. Finance teams reported spending an average of 15 hours a month manually updating, reviewing, correcting or reconciling travel data across disconnected systems, while 49% of travellers said they lose at least an hour per trip to manual tasks.
Three-quarters (75%) of travel decision-makers agreed that using multiple tools creates operational inefficiency, and 65% admitted that gaps or inaccuracies in travel spending data hamper their confidence when setting budgets or policy.
“In a landmark year of sports and cultural events, businesses are using travel to deepen relationships, create memorable client experiences and win new business. But behind the scenes, they want to eliminate time-consuming manual processes that make it more complicated and inefficient,” said Fernando Iraola, executive vice president and general manager, global and US large enterprises at American Express.
AI use has doubled, with caveats
Reported use of AI travel tools nearly doubled year on year, to 32% from 18%. Looking further ahead, 80% of travellers and 81% of decision-makers said they would be comfortable handing the whole travel and expense process to AI agents, from research through booking to filing expenses. The enthusiasm comes with a condition: 90% of decision-makers said the ability to review, approve or amend an agent’s recommendation before anything is booked or changed is very important.
Mobile is now assumed rather than appreciated. Three-quarters (75%) of travellers view booking apps, mobile wallets and travel alerts as an expectation rather than a perk, 87% said having everything on their phone left them feeling more in control, and 65% of decision-makers expect investment in mobile and contactless tools to rise over the next year.
One caveat for UK buyers reading the numbers. The research, published by American Express, surveyed 1,006 US business travellers and 510 US travel decision-makers online between 12 and 20 May 2026. The destination rankings, by contrast, are drawn from Amex commercial customer air and hotel transactions comparing 2024 with 2025, which is what puts Manchester on the list.
