If your clients are flying into a World Cup host city this summer, warn them now: the price tag is climbing fast.
American Express Global Business Travel's latest Business Travel Pulse report finds that major sporting events — and they don't get bigger than this year's 48-nation, 16-city tournament across the US, Mexico, and Canada — are squeezing corporate travelers with reduced availability, busier airports, and sharp airfare hikes to host destinations.
On average, U.S. domestic flights to host cities have jumped 42 percent year-over-year, while flights from Europe to host cities are up 13 percent. Airfares to non-host cities, by contrast, are climbing only moderately, underscoring just how concentrated the World Cup effect really is. Airlines are responding by swapping in larger aircraft on select routes to meet demand between June and July.
Hotels are feeling it too, though more modestly so far. Amex GBT has seen contracted rates from the 2026 sourcing season rise more than 62 percent above the global average of 1.3 percent, topping out at 4.8 percent in Toronto. The report expects rates to keep climbing as match days approach, even as more than half of hotel owners in US host cities report bookings below their initial forecasts.
The backdrop is a broader acceleration in business travel costs. Overall prices jumped 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026, a steep climb from the 4.7 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven in part by jet fuel shocks tied to Middle East conflict and airspace closures that have lengthened flight times. Even so, business travel remains resilient as companies continue to prioritize face-to-face meetings.
The advisor take? Monitor host-city rates closely and revisit conversations with hotels in markets where demand has cooled.
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