The business trip is back! Despite the concerns about corporate travel after the pandemic, it seems like the sector has shown a massive increase between February and March. An article published by Australian Aviation says that a popular travel agency had a 416% increase in corporate bookings.
The doom previsions
With the pandemic, we changed not only the way we live but also the way we do business. We started working from home, we started using masks, and we stayed home for months. Companies changed too, and business trips were the first thing to be cut, if the borders were closed, there couldn’t be any trips, business or otherwise.
So, a lot of people thought that similar to what is happening to work from home, companies would move their business trips and networking events online, and corporate travel would be a thing of the past. It is a reality, that there are still a lot of meetings and events held online, but it is also a reality that lots of companies resumed their travel plans.
The great return
Without a doubt, for the aviation industry, this is a very welcome come back. Corporate travel makes a substantial part of airlines’ revenue. For the tourism industry is also a great thing. Although people are travelling for business purposes, they still need accommodation, food and transport. Not to mention, that they also have some leisure time and they will also explore the places they visit and spend money on souvenirs and all sorts of things.
The future
The reality is, at the moment this may not be the most sustainable and environmentally friendly option. In the future, with airlines reducing their emissions and working actively to reach a 0 emissions target, this could be just another option to add to the online meetings and conferences. Of one thing I’m sure, it may be quite different from what it was before 2020 and quite different from what it may be today.