New research found four out of five business travellers have seen their job impacted by a lack of cross-border business travel, and a third stated that not seeing clients face-to-face has negatively affected the way they do business.

It is commonly thought that business travel recovery will be slower than that of leisure travel, due to businesses continuing to function during the pandemic without travel.

However, global traveller services expert Collinson, found a third of business travellers said the lack of travel has made their company less productive, with 28% saying they have felt unable to do their job effectively as a result.

The survey results show that while the majority of business meetings are now conducted via video call, there is a growing need and desire amongst a large number of business travellers to recommence travel.

They will be looking for a duty of care from their employers for the right provision of support and assistance solutions before travelling again.

This includes protecting not just their physical, but also mental health.

Before the pandemic, one in three (35%) business travellers raised concerns about the impact of business travel on their mental health, while a quarter (23%) said it increased their stress levels.

Collinson’s research post-Covid outbreak indicates that this has intensified since the onset of the pandemic, and that these areas will now be more critical for businesses and the travel sector to focus on.

Almost three quarters (73%) of travellers worldwide say they’ll be prioritising their mental wellbeing more when they travel in future.

More than half (51%) of business travellers interviewed in the pre-Covid survey said their employer expected them to prioritise keeping the cost of travel low over their wellbeing.

David Evans, Joint CEO of Collinson, said: “The research shows a tension between the importance of business travel, which employees say allows them to do their job better and makes businesses more productive, and caring for them while travelling.”

“This is an opportunity for businesses to understand what their employees want from the future of corporate travel and build this into their programmes to offer the right support.”