PARIS: Business travel is expected to approach a new normal by the end of 2022.
In light of the pandemic, US companies have realised the potential for cost savings and have adopted technological alternatives to replace non-essential travel.
They have also learned environmental lessons, prompting action to reduce carbon emissions.
How does business travel fit into the post-covid world of work? While companies have limited travel since the start of the pandemic, turning conferences and trade shows into online events, they are now slowly returning to a new kind of normal, combining hybrid events with essential travel.
According to Deloitte’s latest research* about the state of business travel, in the second quarter of 2021, 13% of companies surveyed intend to allocate between 25% and 49% of their 2019 travel expenditure to business travel, while only 1% of companies expect to spend the same amount as in 2019.
At this point, business travel remains necessary only if a physical presence is deemed essential.
The firm’s projections estimate that business travel will approach “a new normal, but still not a full recovery” in the third and fourth quarters of 2022.
By the end of 2022, US business travel could reach 80% of 2019 levels. “This would represent more than 4x growth from where it stands in summer 2021,” the study states.
Two factors call into question the need for business travel
The decline in business travel is not only due to the covid-19 pandemic and the difficulties of travel during this time.
This global health crisis has made companies aware of certain harmful behaviours, particularly in terms of ecology.
Since 2020, businesses’ environmental commitments have grown significantly, with nearly 31% of companies declaring that they are committed to reducing carbon emissions within a specific and already defined timeframe.
“A consulting company, for example, might tie 80% or more of its carbon emissions to travel.
“Whereas a mining or energy company might set that number somewhere closer to 5%,” writes the Business Travel News (BTN) reporter, Elizabeth West.
Indeed, carbon emissions vary across sectors and activities, implying that each company must make its own individual assessment. BTN’s reporter points out that the pandemic “forced nearly every company’s attention toward its business travel practices.”
In addition to the environmental aspect, companies have taken note of the savings they made during the recent months of downtime. Amazon says it saved nearly US$1 billion in travel costs in 2020, while Google announced a savings of over $1 billion.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/money/2021/08/05/business-travel-may-never-return-to-pre-pandemic-levels/