Guess who’s back? If you said business travellers, you’re absolutely
right. With the Omicron variant slowly but surely subsiding, and more
countries relaxing their travel restrictions or dropping them entirely,
corporate travel is finally picking up steam and steadily chugging
along.
Data
and insights found in the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA)
February Covid-19 recovery poll revealed a rise in business travel
volume expectations for the year ahead, and more employees’ willingness
to go on bleisure trips. Companies which responded to the GBTA poll also
indicated that more employees will be returning to the office at least
several days a week.
“We
are entering into the next phase of global business travel – one of
thoughtful recovery – and our recent research reflects that shift,” said
Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA. “The business travel industry is more
optimistic about the path to recovery. The signs are there. With safety
and health remaining at the forefront, we are moving into a more endemic
way of managing the pandemic, step by step.”
Neufang
says that the ‘next normal’ in global business travel encompassing all
its players is still being defined. As more insights, expectations and
trends are expected to follow suit in light of the ever-evolving
situation around business travel that has already seen a significant
paradigm shift from the way travel management companies (TMC) have
pivoted or enhanced their services, GBTA sheds light on the current
circumstances taking shape now.
Optimism skyrockets within a month: Around
78% of supplier and TMC professionals surveyed in February are
optimistic about the business travel industry’s path to recovery, a
significant increase compared to the 54% in its January poll.
Employees want to travel for business: 82% of
companies believe that their employees are “willing” or “very willing”
to travel for business in today’s climate. Most of those surveyed
indicate that their employees may want to travel about the same amount
or even more as they did before the pandemic.
Bookings are improving: Travel buyers respond that
their companies’ business travel bookings are at 33% of their
pre-pandemic level, while travel suppliers indicate that their business
travel bookings are back to 42% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
How about future bookings?: Future bookings are
seeing a larger uptick than current bookings. In January, 60% of TMC
professionals reveal that bookings for the upcoming months have
decreased, but in February, 45% have noticed a marked increase for
future bookings.
Bleisure is picking up speed: 82% of travel managers
think that their employees are equally interested or much more
interested with the concept of extending work trips to include a leisure
component.
Travel restrictions, yay or nay: One-third of
respondents feel that their country’s entry requirements for
international visitors are too strict, while 79% of travel managers and
procurement professionals say that these government-imposed travel
restrictions have somewhat or greatly disrupted their business
operations.
Omicron sentiments: When professionals were asked
about the possibility of the Omicron variant impacting corporate travel
in the next three months, majority (79%) thinks that the worst is behind
us, but they remain divided on the speed of its recovery. Out of the
respondents surveyed, 50% believe that business travel will pick up
slowly, while 29% think it will pick up quickly.