Business travel is set to fly. Dozens of Fortune 500
companies targeted return-to-office dates for March and April, even if it's
less than a five-day per week experience for most employees. Every U.S. state
has dropped indoor mask mandates, and 62 percent of respondents to a March
Monmouth University poll opposed reinstituting them, up from 34 percent in
September 2021.
Travel suppliers are eager to meet a surge in business
travel demand. Hoteliers and travel management companies are determined to
increase staffing and airlines are increasing domestic and international capacity.
International Air Transport Association director general Willie Walsh last
month said carriers had "good reason to be optimistic" as border
restrictions began to ease. Indeed, most major business travel destinations
have started to modify the requirements for international travelers to enter,
and buyers told Business Travel News, they are taking more confident steps
toward travel—some say business travel for their companies has returned to
pre-pandemic highs.
The series below explores the full scope of 2022's Business
Travel Recovery—from the recovery environment to the rate of business travel
return and how travel managers have shaped new travel strategies, policies and
processes.