In light of recent terrorist attacks, business travelers are
more skeptical than their travel managers about the efficiency of duty-of-care
programs that are in place, according to an Association of Corporate Travel
Executives study of 270 travel executives and 605 business travelers.
Business Traveller
and American Express Global Business Travel helped conduct the survey, for
which travelers rated their programs' safety and security lower than travel
managers did in all six categories, including risk assessment procedures,
access to travel risk tools and policy communication.
The gap between travelers and managers generally spanned
only a point on a 10-point scale, but ACTE executive director Greeley Koch said:
"If companies think they have the greatest program, and travelers don't [agree]
or don't know about them, that's a problem. There's a fear out there of
lockdowns and in-flight terror incidents, and when fear's on the mind, it can
impact whether you take a trip."
Traveling to specific destinations concerned 79 percent of
travelers and 75 percent of buyers. France, Turkey and Belgium topped the list.
The March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels occurred during the course of the
survey. More than half of travelers are more anxious about travel than they
were a year ago.
"Business travelers are resilient and will
find a way to work through anything, but we're starting to see an issue,"
Koch said.