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Professional travelers are similar to business travelers in many ways, although this type of travel is more elastic than business travel. Professional travel is built around the meeting and convention markets. These markets have grown as transportation, especially by air, has become more available and affordable. As professional travel continues to grow, new and expanded meeting and convention facilities have been developed to satisfy this increasing demand. Along with this growth, new management challenges have arisen to serve this specialized market. Some of the key market segments for meeting participants or attendees are associations, businesses, exhibitions and trade shows, religious organizations, political parties, and governments.

Many futurists have also predicted a decline in business and professional travel with the introduction of teleconferencing. However, people continue to have a strong desire to meet each other face-to-face. Although teleconferencing serves to introduce people to each other electronically, they will eventually want to meet in person to interact and network. This need for personal contact and interaction has allowed the business travel market to grow even in the face of advancing technology.

In response to the needs of the business travel segment, tourism service suppliers have offered a wide array of services and benefits. Airlines instituted frequent-flier programs and service upgrades including business class and provided corporate pricing, discounts and rebates, travel lounges, and preferred check-ins. Amtrak developed club service with reserved seating, snack and beverage service, telephones, and conference rooms on some trains. Car rental companies, following the lead of airlines, established frequent-renter programs, which provided corporate pricing, discounts, rebates, upgrades, and special check-in procedures. Hotels and other lodging properties have provided similar benefits to business travelers including corporate pricing, discounts, and rebates; special floors and sections including business centers, frequent stay programs, and upgrades.