Hybrid Work Model Will Cause Business Travel Patterns to Shift, Study Says

Business travel trends are set to evolve post-pandemic, given that many employees will continue to work remotely at least some of the time.

The new ‘Back to Blue Skies’ study from American Express Global Business Travel suggests that 69 percent of “decision-makers” believe that, while virtual meetings will continue to have their place, remote work could actually spur more in-person business travel.

David Reimer, executive vice president for global clients and general manager at American Express Global Business Travel, remarked: As we’ve heard from clients and this survey confirmed, many corporate decision-makers are looking for support on how they should evolve travel policies to drive employee confidence to get back to traveling for work.”

While it’s become clear that leisure trips will lead in terms of post-COVID travel resumption, the report revealed that 83 percent of decision-makers also expect business travel to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels within the next two years. This flies in the face of Bill Gates’ recent prediction that over 50 percent of business travel would evanesce after the pandemic.

Opinions continue to vary widely about whether or not business travel will actually rebound fully after more than a year of businessfolks making do with Zoom calls and virtual conferences. There are those who believe that the desire for face-to-face meetings and human connection, especially in the realm of sales, will be the factor that brings the segment back.

The report revealed that 86 percent of business travelers are, indeed, eager to start traveling in-person again as soon as it’s deemed safe enough.

Eighty-five percent of decision-makers also said that there’s a correlation between business travel higher revenues and profits.

Study participants also said that business travel plays an important role in professional development, with 85 percent of respondents and 90 percent of decision-makers agreeing that it stimulates professional growth.

Eighty-two percent of business travelers and 79 percent of decision-makers also agree that the benefits of in-person meetings exceed those of virtual meetings.

Almost 80 percent of business travelers said they prefer in-person collaborative meetings over virtual ones, and 78 percent prefer face-to-face sales meetings over virtual ones.

Over 50 percent of business travelers also point to the challenges of assessing professional chemistry and gauging real-time response as their greatest hurdles in creating new business relationships, which are both trickier over a virtual medium.

With the restart of business travel now imminent, 73 percent of decision-makers said that they want guidance on what their post-pandemic travel policies should look like to ensure employees’ safety, with 78 percent anticipating that those policies will differ from what they were pre-COVID.