Part Two: Corporate attitudes to ‘test to release' scheme (Part One, Airlines up the ante as focus falls on pre-departure testing, was published on Thursday 19 November)
Will England’s new ‘test to release’ scheme provide a shot in the arm for the beleaguered travel industry? It was confirmed on Tuesday that passengers arriving in England from destinations not on the government’s travel corridor list will, from December 15, be able to cut short the required two-week quarantine period by taking a test for Covid-19 – and producing a negative result – no sooner than day five after arrival.
The announcement drew lukewarm responses from across the travel industry, with the notion that it's “a step in the right direction” expressed in at least three separate statements from travel organisations.
The World Travel & Tourism Council said holidaymakers will “embrace the reduced quarantine and will be able to afford the test” but “it won’t be enough to resuscitate meaningful business travel”.
Others highlighted the need for more significant action. Amex GBT said “pre-departure testing more intelligently mitigates risk” while the Business Travel Association said the government must “give business travel an exemption from the blunt and misguided quarantine measures” – a recommendation of the Global Travel Taskforce for business travellers visiting England from overseas.
The debate around who exactly ‘test to release’ benefits continued, with tour operators pointing out they are expected to follow FCDO advice and therefore are severely restricted as to the destinations they can currently sell.
Business travellers and their employers, meanwhile, are trying to define in what circumstances they are prepared to pay the ‘release fee’.
A recent poll from the GBTA found 86 per cent of European buyer and supplier respondents across the business travel industry favour rapid pre-departure testing over quarantine on arrival.
The survey did not tackle corporates’ willingness to pay for testing, but it’s thought pre-departure tests are more likely to be accepted as a new cost of business travel – until a vaccine is widely available – than the optional test to release scheme.
“We are seeing additional costs of doing business in all aspects of everyday life and the key will be to minimise any levies placed as every trip must achieve a realistic return on investment,” cautions ITM’s chief executive Scott Davies.
The optional nature of post-trip testing will almost certainly sharpen the focus on what is deemed business-critical travel. As one travel manager told BTN Europe: “I think we would pay [for ‘test to release’] if the trip was deemed as absolutely essential to business continuity.”
Another said they believe the scheme will help stimulate business travel and, similarly, stated their company would be prepared to pay for the tests if the trip is deemed essential.
Marcus Eklund, global managing director, FCM Travel Solutions, is of a similar view: “For corporates where travel is deemed necessary, then we expect them to be willing to pay for tests as a short to medium-term means of facilitating travel.
“£100 [for example] is a justifiable cost to reduce quarantine time and unlock travel, particularly to enable C-suite travellers to get moving again. It would really help encourage international travel between client headquarters, for example."
One company BTN Europe spoke with believes testing is a duty of care responsibility regardless of it facilitating early release from quarantine.
With relatively active business travel, the company is already testing its travellers on days one and five after they return from trips for “peace of mind” and “to protect our families and loved one”.
Its travellers are given the option of going straight home and conducting their tests there or of being housed temporarily in a serviced apartment until they have their test results.
The second test is not mandatory, but if travellers choose not to take it, they must not visit company premises or come into contact with colleagues for 14 days.
At a recent ITM buyer event, the number of questions raised around testing was a clear indication of the new layer of complexity that pre- and/or post-trip testing presents.
Buyers aired concerns about the logistics of getting tests to people while working from home; challenges around GDPR; mandatory versus optional testing for travellers; which test is the ‘right’ test for the destination or particular purpose; whether employees should be allowed to expense a test on their return; and who within an organisation should be responsible for managing it all.
When evaluating whether a business trip is worthwhile, ITM pointed out that “testing can become quite costly for trips which require multiple touch points in different countries. For example, a typical trip could require four tests – before you fly, when you land and again before your return and on arrival to your end destination.”
It added: “It may not be financially feasible to test for convenience or reassurance if such tests are not mandatory.”
One travel manager told BTN Europe they felt the test to release concept will get more travellers out on the road and said their organisation is likely to pay for travellers to have day five tests. They also pointed out that any travel must be deemed critical to be permitted so post-trip testing is therefore an acceptable cost.
They added: “But we need to remember that many corporates have been operating pretty much without the expense of travel in the past six months. I think this is something some will want to maintain and they [now] have proof that while business travel is often seen as essential it is not perhaps as integral as it was once thought to be.”
As so often has been the case throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, there remain far more questions than answers.