Business travel is usually presented as a sign of trust, a chance to build connections, and a step toward career growth. The picture looks far less polished once gender enters the frame. In a 2023 global survey commissioned by World Travel Protection, 71% of female respondents said traveling for work as a woman is less safe than traveling as a man. A 2025 GBTA Foundation release reached a similar conclusion, saying 62% of travel buyers believe women face greater danger on business trips.
The pattern is also hard to dismiss because it keeps resurfacing. Back in 2018, GBTA said 69% of U.S. travel buyers believed female travelers generally faced greater danger on the road, and separate AIG Travel and GBTA research found 71% of female business travelers believed they were more exposed than male counterparts.
When results keep landing in the same place across different years and respondent groups, the headline starts to look less provocative and more grounded.
1. The Safety Gap Keeps Appearing in Survey After Survey
One poll can be brushed aside as timing, sample bias, or a bad week in the news cycle. That becomes much harder when similar findings appear again and again. World Travel Protection’s 2023 global survey of 2,000 business travelers found that 71% of female respondents felt work trips were less safe for them than for men.
GBTA’s 2025 findings then showed that 62% of travel buyers still believed women face greater danger while traveling for business. That is a strong sign the concern is not fading.
Older industry research points in the same direction. GBTA’s 2018 partnership with WWStay found that nearly seven in ten U.S. travel buyers believed female travelers generally faced greater exposure.
The organization’s 2018 work with AIG Travel reported that 71% of female business travelers felt they were more vulnerable than male peers. Different samples, different sponsors, same broad conclusion.
2. The Concern Is Tied to Specific Threats, Not Vague Nerves
The unease is not abstract. GBTA’s 2018 buyer research said the leading concerns around female business travel included certain countries and cities, sexual harassment, assault, and kidnapping.
AIG Travel and GBTA found similar worries among women themselves, with general safety, sexual harassment and assault, risky destinations, and assault or kidnapping all ranking high. Those are concrete fears, not generalized discomfort.
That distinction matters because it separates ordinary trip stress from gendered exposure. Raconteur’s 2025 reporting on the World Travel Protection survey noted that 31% of women said they would not want to go out alone at night during a work trip.
Another 12% said they had experienced a negative incident, including minor theft or assault. This is not about who dislikes airports more. It is about who is doing extra safety calculations after landing.
3. Women Often Change Their Behavior on the Road in Ways Men Do Not
The numbers suggest women are not simply uneasy. They are adjusting how they move through a trip. In the World Travel Protection survey covered by Business Travel News Europe, 31% of women said they do not travel or go out on their own at night, compared with 18% of men.
Another 46% said they always stay in close touch with family and friends so their whereabouts are known, compared with 36% of men. That is not just worry. It is changed behavior.
AIG Travel and GBTA’s U.S. research showed similar habits. More than half of female business travelers said they regularly communicated with the office, relatives, or friends while away.
More than half also stuck to trusted hotels, and about half shared itineraries with people back home. The same release noted that only 53% felt ride-sharing was safe, while many said they checked the driver’s name and license plate before getting in.
4. Corporate Policy Still Lags Behind What Travelers Say They Need
This is where the research becomes especially uncomfortable for employers. GBTA’s 2018 travel buyer study found that only 18% of travel policies specifically addressed female safety, even though 69% of buyers believed women faced greater danger.
Seven years later, GBTA Foundation research still showed a major gap. While 62% of travel buyers believed women face greater exposure, only 27% said their company’s travel policies specifically address female traveler safety.
The support shortfall is not only about written rules. The 2025 GBTA Foundation findings said just 55% of travel managers felt women’s voices were adequately represented in shaping travel programs.
Another 23% said they were not, while a further 23% were unsure. That leaves a great deal of room for systems built around a default traveler who does not experience work trips in the same way.
5. Uneven Safety Can Shape Careers, Not Only Comfort
A work trip is rarely just a trip. It can lead to visibility, stronger client relationships, and future promotions. SAP Concur’s 2024 Global Business Travel Survey found that around two in three global business travelers felt they had not had equal opportunity to take business trips compared with colleagues.
Women were more likely than men to cite gender, parent or caretaker status, and age as contributing reasons. That pushes the issue beyond hotel locks and airport pickups.
If one group approaches work travel with added caution, extra emotional labor, or a legitimate reluctance to accept certain itineraries, the professional upside of being on the road does not land evenly. The surveys do not say every man feels relaxed or every woman feels unsafe.
They do show, with striking consistency, that the burden is distributed differently. That is what makes this more than a travel-story detail.