Travel impacted by a “more environmentally conscious mindset”

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, business travellers worldwide are becoming more conscious about the environment impact of travel.

This could be significant for the return of trips to the levels before 2019, as according to data issued by Business Travel Show Europe, people are now more interested in sustainability while travelling for business.

Ami Taylor, senior director product strategy at SAP Concur, explains:

“[Employees] are willing to extend their travel for longer if they could travel more sustainably – by switching from plane to train where it’s feasible.”

The poll also found that 38 per cent of companies have already surpassed 2019 levels, yet another 26 per cent register less than 50 per cent of pre-Covid flights.

According to Michael Riegel, Europe’s TripActions GM, even though travel will come back massively, sustainability will be a “topic for years to come”, as clients are more interested about carbon emissions, despite rates across the industry going up.

On the other hand, Pascal Jungfer, CEO of Areka Consulting, thinks that about 30 per cent of business travel volumes will go down, because more people are currently working remote. At the same time, he advised companies not to have “strict rules” about travel and let their employees have access to specific guidance.

“Imposing strict rules is difficult because it can be too rigid. At the end of the day, whether to travel or have people travel is a business decision – the decision to travel will always be a management decision. But you need to have guidelines to help people”, Jungfer concluded.

 

source: businesstravelnewseurope.com