Many companies “are trying to navigate these murky waters right now,” added Brady, whose company provides business and corporate travel planning services.
With the busy summer season starting, domestic vacation travel rebounded to more than 100% pre-pandemic levels this month as Americans catch up on unused vacations and late family gatherings, according to Delta Air Lines.
However, the latest weekly data on corporate air travel bookings sold by US travel agents was still down 64.6% from 2019. according to the industry group Airlines for America. American Express Global Business Travel estimates that business travel to and from Atlanta was down 85%, compared with 93% at the beginning of the year.
Many in the industry expect it could be 2023, 2024 or later before the business trip fully recovers. If then.
That’s bad news for airlines that have made more money selling higher-priced business-class seats over the decades – especially overseas trips that cost up to $ 10,000 in normal times – than economy seats in the back Part of the plane.
Prior to the pandemic, business travelers made up about 30% of air travel, but an estimated 40 to 50% of passenger revenue, according to Airlines for America. Atmosphere Research Group analyst Henry Harteveldt estimates that business travelers typically make up 55 to 75% of airlines’ profits.
In the past, many of Atlanta’s corporate headquarters have been visited by thousands of employees, salespeople and business associates. The city had around 880 conventions, meetings and events in 2019, which recorded more than 1.6 million hotel room nights. according to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureauwho only sees the beginnings of a recovery.
At Home Depot, based in Atlanta, travel guidelines were “pretty tight” during the pandemic, said spokeswoman Margaret Smith. Now when employees are planning a business trip, they are asked if they can reach their destination remotely. If not, fully vaccinated employees can travel domestically for “business-critical reasons” – a decision between employee and supervisor.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola also limits travel to “business-critical only” but said it will review its domestic and international travel guidelines in the coming months.
A June survey by the Global Business Travel Association reported that 40% of businesses around the world have resumed non-essential domestic business travel, but only 12% have resumed non-essential international business travel. International travel is faced with higher hurdles with quarantine restrictions in many countries.
One factor that is holding back the recovery: the legal term “due diligence”. Corporations “have a responsibility to keep their employees safe when their employees travel for business,” said Brady of Corporate Travel Management.
Advised by legal, risk, and human resources departments, executives “need to know that all risks have been assessed,” said Teri Miller, executive vice president of Atlanta-based travel management company BCD Travel.
Business travelers include not only corporate executives, but also salespeople who meet with customers or attend conventions, as well as technicians and regional managers who visit locations.
Some workers have been on the move throughout the pandemic, including those in logistics, energy and healthcare, such as technicians servicing medical equipment. And those who work for small and medium-sized companies were often less bound by corporate travel restrictions.
Rafal Los, a cybersecurity manager who lives in Vinings, has been away on business since last fall, including trips to his company’s headquarters in Salt Lake City.
“Sometimes you have to go where the customers are, where the work is. You have to take a certain risk, ”says Los, whose company has fewer than 100 employees.
And he added, “Sitting in my home office is frankly miserable as hell.”
Los spoke often at industry conferences before the pandemic. With live events planned for his industry in July and August, “I’m signing up for each and every one of them.”
Many other street warriors are itching to return to normal. A current survey by American Express, which has a corporate travel management department, found that 86% of business travelers want their travel to be safe.
According to the US Travel Association, business travelers spent $ 334.2 billion nationwide in 2019, including travel spending on hotels, transportation, restaurants, retail and leisure.
Airline executives have made it their business to emphasize a mantra that, as United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby puts it, “The first time someone loses a sale to a competitor who shows up in person is the last Time he tries to make a sales call on Zoom. ”
Ed Bastian, Delta CEO, says his airline is increasingly turning to small and medium-sized businesses to drive the recovery. He also believes video conferencing will complement, but not replace, business travel.
“Video technology actually makes people mobile,” says Bastian, adding that you can “take the office with you” and take part in company meetings on the go.
Nevertheless, he assumes that traditional business travel could decline by 20 to 30%. Some segments may never return, he admitted, including high-priced short business trips to Europe for a single short get-together.
For now, “employers want to make sure employees don’t feel pressured to travel when they’re uncomfortable,” said Jeremy Quek, global air practice lead at American Express Global Business Travel. “The fact that people travel when they feel uncomfortable is of no use to anyone.”
Miller of BCD Travel said some companies are considering whether to vaccinate their employees before they travel, which they think could be hard to sell. “Some people have pretty strong opinions about this,” Miller said.
The pandemic “gave us all this pause button that allowed us to reevaluate how to do this and how we might be able to travel smarter,” she added.
A June survey by the Global Business Travel Association showed that travel managers think:
- 19% of employees are very willing to travel
- 58% are more willing
- 5% are not ready
- 1% are not ready at all
- Others are ambivalent or insecure.
