Travel Managers Are Working Out How Companies Can Return to Travel — Is It Worth It?
Skift Take
With so much uncertainty, you might wonder why travel managers would bother pitching any process to get employees moving again. But there is a method to the madness.
Corporate travel managers are looking for a magic formula to allow employees to take business trips again.
Many are working on what's commonly being referred to as a "Return to Travel" document, which sets out approval procedures and other processes to reassure both employees and company bosses.
But with so much confusion over which countries are open, and which suppliers to use, the operation's becoming a moving target. Should they even bother?
Apparently, yes.
Despite recognizing most types of business travel, apart from domestic, are a long way off, one of the reasons they're setting out on this path is to spend time training staff — to rebuild confidence.
Just 34 percent of travel and meetings buyers said they felt confident their duty of care program provided all that's needed, and only 53 percent felt the company was adequately prepared for a return to travel, according to a Travel and Transport survey of its corporate customers.
"We’re in contact with travel buyers in Canada, asking what is their priority when it comes to restarting business travel," said Nancy Tudorache, the Global Business Travel Association’s regional vice president, Canada, at a recent virtual Town Hall meeting. "We’re starting to see business travel recovery strategies as we approach the mark where companies are taking action to put information in place to get travel started again.
"But the challenge is that, unfortunately, business travel is still a way off and building confidence through this information and through (hearing from) different sectors in the industry is important to get that feedback to companies. We can get business travel going… so in the fall we can see some greater movement."
what's on the agenda?
To give you an idea of the level of detail travel managers are facing, one company's 18-page "Return to travel" document, seen by Skift, has the following sections: Objectives; About Covid-19; Travel booking safety; iSOS Travel and medical risk ratings; Government/immigration restrictions; Air travel restriction
