Half of organizations had begun travelling again by August but with stipulations on where and how employees can make trips, according to the latest State of the Market survey by global travel management company FCM Travel Solutions and SME specialist business travel provider Corporate Traveler. However, the level of business travel is likely to remain low until 2023.
In a survey conducted in August by FCM consulting arm 4th Dimension of 250 FCM multi-national clients as well as Corporate Traveler and Flight Centre Business Travel small and midsize enterprise customers in more than 60 countries, 50 percent said they already had employees travelling or booking reservations to travel in the near future.
Industries that continued to travel throughout the pandemic or restarted trips the fastest were the mining and wholesale sectors, with nearly 80 percent of clients having resumed travel by August, as well as businesses in construction and food service, where 70 percent have resumed travel.
However, the combined results of all three State of the Market surveys conducted between April and August show that while 90 percent of a total 2,320 travel managers polled planned to allow domestic and short-haul international trips, 7 percent said they were unlikely to resume international travel during 2021, and 30 percent were not sure due to ongoing restrictions put in place by some governments, such as the United Kingdom.
The number of trips taken next year also is unlikely to fully recover, with only 26 percent of businesses planning to return to their pre-Covid-19 levels of domestic travel during 2021. The remaining 74 percent predicted reduced domestic travel for the year ahead.
When asked which types of employees are likely to get back on the road first, the majority of respondents said travel in the near future will be focused on business growth, customer retention and the resumption of projects, with those in sales, client management and project work due to be allowed to travel. Staff in administrative and support roles likely will see reduced or no travel for the foreseeable future.
And the pandemic has had an effect on travel policies that could last well into the future. About 84 percent of respondents had an active policy prior to Covid-19, but 40 percent added an interim policy to cover additional changes in travel. Of the companies that didn't have a policy in place, 20 percent said they now have an interim program to provide a framework for travelers.
In a bid to tighten control on travel since the start of the pandemic, 37 percent of respondents said they have increased the number of travel approvers by at least one.
Looking ahead, duty of care will be the top priority in 2021 for both large enterprise clients and SMEs (23 percent and 29 percent, respectively), followed by budget (12 percent and 15 percent). For large enterprises, this is followed by looking at their online booking tools or travel technology (10 percent) and travel policy (9 percent). Meanwhile, SMEs also will prioritize travel policy (11 percent) and approvals (9 percent).
About 74 percent of respondents said they plan to review their hotel supply strategy for 2021, with 37 percent evaluating health and hygiene practices and 17 percent planning to consolidate suppliers and reduce leakage. Fourteen percent will revisit pricing, 6 percent will change suppliers and 26 percent said they will not make any changes to their hotel program.
Chris Galanty, global corporate CEO at Flight Centre Travel Group, said, "Even now, as pockets of the industry turn towards recovery, the business travel landscape continues to shift and evolve. In preparation for a return to some normality, businesses and suppliers are reframing their priorities, processes and procedures. It is clear that uncertainty will remain for some time, particularly while governments re-impose border restrictions or quarantine periods."
RELATED:Galanty in a new BTN Europe podcast spoke with BTN Europe editor-in-chief Andy Hoskins about the impact of the pandemic on FCM and Corporate Traveler's operations and the wider business travel industry.
Originally published in BTN Europe.