The countdown to the Olympics is now below 90 days but how will it affect corporate travel to London? Rob Gill looks at the latest advice and information for businesses
To travel or not to travel during the Olympics? That’s the question concerning many travel buyers in the run-up to the games which start in London on July 27.
There are a myriad of concerns about those who want to travel into the capital for business during the 17 days of Olympic events. Recent research shows that the top four Olympic worries for businesses are transport disruption, congestion in London, staff absence and security. There are also issues about the availability and prices of hotel rooms.
Many large corporates have already decided to stop all “non-essential” travel to London by employees during the Olympics (July 27-August 12). The majority of buyers at an ITM travel management forum in March and Capita Business Travel’s rail forum last week said they were adopting this policy.
One buyer said their company had already decided to only allow “business critical” travel to London and staff would have to stay in hotels outside the city in commuter hubs such as Milton Keynes.
But not everybody is taking this course of action, with ABTN’s poll on the issue seeing readers split around 50-50 on whether they will be stopping all “non-essential” business travel to London.
ABTN looks at the practical considerations of travelling to the capital as the countdown to the games passes the three-month milestone.
AIRPORTS
Queues of more than two hours to go through the UK’s border control at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 last week have further raised alarm bells about what will happen when the anticipated extra 500,000 passengers arrive at the UK’s airports during the Olympics and Paralympics. It is thought there will be up to 4,000 extra flights into airports in the south-east over the period.
Heathrow is undoubtedly going to have the biggest potential for disruption and airport owner BAA is predicting that August 13 – the day after the closing ceremony – will be the busiest day with normal passenger departures numbers rising by 45% to 138,000.
The UK’s Border Force says it has “well-rehearsed plans” to cope with the extra passengers at Heathrow but it is adamant it will not do anything that will “compromise safety”.
Brian Moore, head of Border Force, said he did not anticipate “three or four-hour queues” at Heathrow but added that if such queues were necessary “in light of the threats and risks that we face at that time, then so be it”.
But despite this huge increase of flights into the UK during the summer, many of the UK’s leading airlines including British Airways and Easyjet are not expecting to cash in on the games.
Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA’s parent firm IAG, said: “I don’t see any immediate business benefit in the short-term because of the disruption to normal travel plans – we think it will be about neutral for us at best. But in the long-term, anything that puts London on the worldwide stage will be good for BA.”
Easyjet’s UK director Paul Simmons agreed with Walsh’s views on the impact of the Olympics.
“Forward bookings are pretty much flat and we think it will be about average for the time of year – there will be a drop in business travellers which will be offset by some additional tourists,” he added.
ACCOMMODATION
The popular story doing the rounds over recent years has been that all London’s hotel would be full during the Olympics and prices would be sky-high.
But the picture is more complicated than it would initially appear according to the latest data from hotel market information provider Travelclick which says that while prices in London are currently 65% higher than for the same period last year, average occupancy across the Olympics is only at 55.4%.
Travelclick said that demand for rooms is about “two-and-a-half times more than hoteliers would expect during a traditional summer season” and that the busiest day so far for hotels was Friday, August 3, when there are a series of swimming finals on that evening following by athletes on the following day.
But the company has warned hotel owners not to “overprice” their rooms even for major events such as the night of the closing ceremony on Sunday, August 12. Travelclick said hotel prices on this night were double than for the same night in 2011 but occupancy only stood at 43.3% which could lead to price drops.
More rooms may also become available from event organiser Locog in the next few weeks. Locog released 20% of its 40,000-room allocation in January and further inventory could be released in the near future which could suppress prices. Online travel agency Expedia said prices for London hotels have already come down from the start of the year – from an average of £280 per night to the current level of around £208 per night.
GROUND TRANSPORTATION
UK rail companies are putting on extra rail services into London during the Olympics and Paralympics. They also expressed confidence that business travellers would be able to travel into the capital during a session on the Olympics at the Capita Business Travel rail forum last week.
Travel buyers at the event were also advised to book their tickets for travel as soon as possible if they were planning to travel to London as cheaper advanced fares were likely to sell out more quickly than normal. Rail tickets for the Olympic period go on sale to the general public from Friday, May 4, although people with tickets to Olympics events have been able to book travel since June 2011. But train operating companies admit that these sales to Olympic ticket holders have been slow so far.
The fourm also heard that people arriving at St Pancras would face “airport-style” security at the station. While they could have to wait for more than an hour to get on trains at some Olympics “hotspot” Tube and mainline stations such as Kings Cross, St Pancras, Bank, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Liverpool Street, Canning Town and Stratford.
Certain dates – August 2, 4, 5 7 and 8 – are also likely to be busier on public transport because they will be when the major swimming and athletics events are held at the Olympic Park in Stratford.
Business continuity expert Chris Keeling has been working with many of the leading financial institutions in the City to make sure they can still operate effectively during the Olympics.
Keeling, who is a director at Keystone Resilience, said that one of the key areas of potential transport problems would be the Jubilee Line on London Underground which runs through Canary Wharf.
“They are expecting a 45% increase in passengers on the Jubilee Line and that line can’t support what we have at the moment,” Keeling told the Capita rail forum. “The organisers are asking firms in London to reduce the number of people coming into work by 30% during the Olympics.
“For those that have to travel around London, it’s going to be difficult and frustrating – you will just have to accept the journey will take longer. Any incident impacting transport in London will result in a significantly greater disruption than normal – if there’s a problem, it will be chaos. Businesses will have to hold meetings outside London and use telepresencing as an alternative.”
Keeling said that many companies were considering letting staff work from home but added that “remote working” on a large scale could put too much strain on broadband networks leading to reduced network capacity and speed.
Details of how London’s transport network is likely to be affected on a day-by-day basis during the Olympics can be viewed at getaheadofthegames.com
SECURITY
UK authorities have been “doing a lot of work on security” for the Olympics according to Keeling with the latest development being plans for surface-to-air missiles to be deployed at a series of locations around London to deal with any potential airborne terrorist attack.
Another example is the creation of the Cross Sector Safety & Security Communications (CSSC) hub - a partnership between the government, Metropolitan Police, and businesses - designed to give accurate information about incidents that happen during the games.
Keeling said that there was likely to be “more petty theft and crime” during the Olympics while the government was also concerned about cyber attacks on IT networks, demonstrations and terrorist incidents.
“They are most concerned about the possible lone nutter or suicide bomber,” he added. “With so many media coming to London, it’s a good opportunity for those who want to make a particular point or raise an issue.”
Keeling advised firms to draw up their own plans for the Olympics which needed to be reviewed and tested in the run-up to the games.
“The Olympics should be a great occasion which we should enjoy,” he said. “Firms have to be prepared for it, but they don’t need to be over-prepared.”
london2012.com
getaheadofthegames.com
Transport for London
National Rail London