When will corporate travel rebound from the pandemic? Depends on who you ask. Three respected Canadian companies with business travel bona fides have offered differing in opinions recently based on surveys conducted with clients. Read on for some of the key findings:

UNIGLOBE TRAVEL

Based on questionnaires given to travel managers and decision makers at corporate accounts, Uniglobe reports that companies in Europe are almost twice as likely as those in North America to have employees travelling now, or expect to have travel within three months.

• Just 32% of North American companies indicated that they have employees currently travelling, will do so within a month, or within 2-3 months, compared to 61% of European companies. Globally, this number was 48.7%.

• In line with Europe’s earlier expectations of travel, 56% of European companies had already made travel policy changes compared with only 41% of North American companies. The most common policy changes globally were limiting or banning travel for internal meetings (64.1%) followed by limiting participation at meetings or conferences based on attendee numbers or places of origin (54.1%).

“Looking at the travel policy changes, there is a discernable traveller-centric approach,” says Martin Charlwood, president & CEO for Uniglobe Travel International. “The least popular policy changes are those that impact traveller rights and privacy – such as requiring them to sign liability waivers, use a tracking app or restricting their personal activities, including staying with friends and family during a business trip.”

Another area of interest in the survey looks at environmental and sustainability considerations in corporate travel policy.

“As companies have increasingly been prioritizing sustainability within travel programs, we know that balancing sustainability with physical distancing can be problematic,” says Andrew Henry, VP US Operations. “Many forms of environmentally friendly travel – such as shared transport – are less popular or viable at this time. However, it was encouraging to see that amongst companies that had sustainability elements in their pre-Covid19 travel policy, well over half of those expect the sustainability policies to be strengthened or enhanced in the next 18 months.”

FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP

In its second poll of 1,600 global business travel managers, bookers and client travellers clients during the pandemic, FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller – the corporate divisions of Flight Centre – have concluded that most companies will only resume business travel if their organization deems it safe to do so.

The multi-national ‘State of the Market’ study further suggests that the majority of businesses will revamp their travel policies to reflect such increased duty of care considerations post COVID-19.

Asked to rank which triggers would prompt resuming business travel, easing or lifting border restrictions still came out on top with 93% of respondents saying it has significant or some impact. However, the second trigger (89%) is “our organization deems it safe to travel and this is reflected in our travel policy.”.

In terms of changes to travel policy post COVID-19:

• 59% of participants said that traveller and supplier health and hygiene factors would be top priority.

• Duty of care obligations ranked the second most dominant area for change (44%).

• Consolidation of bookings through a TMC also emerged as a priority with 21% saying that they would not shift to higher levels of online booking adoption.

“The second poll of our State of the Market survey showed that there is definitely an increasing sense of our clients needing to travel, but whilst the situation around COVID-19 remains unpredictable, with possible second waves and local lockdowns, it’s clear that duty of care, hygiene and safety are going to be the dominant considerations for our customers going forwards,” said John Morhous, Chief Experience Officer for FCM and Corporate Traveller.

Highlights of the first phase of the Market report, released June 25, include:

• 70% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that they expected to increase business travel gradually over a period time with consensus peaking in business travel returning domestically in one to three months (40%) and internationally in six to 12 months (32%).

• The easing or complete lift of border restrictions ranked as the primary trigger for resuming business travel (70% said this would have significant impact) closely followed by organizational endorsement that it is safe to travel (68% of respondents indicated traveller safety will have a significant impact and must be reflected in travel policy).

• While a large portion of respondents indicated a need to revamp travel policy post COVID-19, 28% of respondents were unsure what needed to change. Of those that did indicate areas for travel policy change, “health and hygiene” and “duty of care” considerations were the two dominant categories
• Only half of respondents believe that their business travel volumes will eventually reach pre-Coronavirus levels.

• Business travel recovery will be led by Asia and EMEA. In Asia, 50% of respondents have already begun booking domestic travel and 37% expect to resume international travel in three to six months. This is due to faster opening of borders intra region and easier movement geographically compared to the rest of the world.

• The highest level of uncertainty around when domestic and international business travel will resume significantly was in the Americas with 28% of respondents saying that they did not know when travel would return.

• Asked whether changes implemented during COVID-19 will reduce their need for business travel, there was a 50/50 split between participants agreeing or disagreeing

DIRECT TRAVEL

“The business travel industry took a significant hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are now beginning to see positive signs of that much-anticipated return,” says Brian Robertson, President, Canada West, Direct Travel. “Many clients are focused on post-coronavirus recovery (which is) a very encouraging sign.”

Among the responses to DT’s recent survey of corporate clients in Canada:

• Over 25% of travellers plan for their domestic travel to resume in the next two to three months.
• Over 65% plan to be travelling again within the year.

However, while many see business travel resuming before year’s end, it’s unclear exactly what that new model will look like, admits Ian Race, Sr. VP of Corporate Sales, who says a number of benchmarks need to be met before travellers are at ease travelling for work once again.

These include safe-stay measures such as guest health protocols, employee responsibilities, cleaning guidelines and social distancing requirements. According to the survey:

“One clear theme is the importance of post-COVID duty of care requirements and an increased focus on mandating travel policy compliance,” said Ian Race, Senior VP, Corporate Sales, Direct Travel. “

• 60% of respondent say they will require a duty of care protocol.
• 84% plan to mandate travel policy compliance.

“It is these safety and security concerns that will drive renewed interest in the travel program from corporate executive leadership, human resources and business travellers themselves,” concludes Rice.

VISION TRAVEL

Meanwhile, Direct Travel’s leisure division, Vision Travel, recently released results of its own vacation/travel intentions survey with two-thirds (67%) of Canadian respondents reporting that they are already planning their next holiday. Among the data:

• 46% of those planning a holiday imagine it will take place in 2021; 16% are making plans for 2020.
• The top three destinations: 64% Canada or US; 47% Europe; 44% Caribbean or Mexico.
• 46% anticipate staying in a (safe haven) resort.
• 41% plan a self-drives trip, whether using the family car or a rental vehicle
• 24% cruises and escorted tours.