Organizations have updated their travel policies. Companies have different expectations of travel partners. Traveler motivations have changed over the last two years. Airlines, airports and hotels who’ve ignore these changes and are planning for business-as-usual risk alienating the post-pandemic business traveler.
Cirium partnered with Atmosphere Research Group to spend time with more than two dozen travel and business leaders with oversight of travel to understand how business travel is changing. The results and excerpts from the interviews are available in the complimentary 2022 Corporate Travel Leaders’ Outlook report. The report contains insights from travel leaders in technology, manufacturing, hospitality, finance and more.
Key Takeaways
- Between 15% and 30% of employees aren’t yet ready to resume business travel according to their travel managers.
- Total business travel activity is expected to grow, whereas per-employee activity is likely to shrink. In other words, more employees will be traveling, but frequent flyers will be flying less.
- Organizations are making travel policies more practical and pragmatic. Many organizations spent time simplifying travel rules and policies.
- Sustainability is becoming a top corporate travel focal point. Twenty of the 25 organizations interviewed include sustainability in their corporate travel planning.
- Data is an increasing important part of corporate travel, from reporting, measuring carbon footprint to managing the traveler experience.
- Travel managers have very positive outlooks about their profession’s future. They already viewed corporate travel as a critical service to central to their employers’ abilities to succeed. They feel the pandemic made their roles even more strategic and important to employees and leadership.
Download the report to hear directly from corporate travel managers about changing travel patterns, vendor expectations, and how travel budgets have changed.
