Business travel agencies believe there will be more demand for non-air travel, increased digitalisation and transformation of the meetings, incentives, conference and event (MICE) sector in the post-Covid world.
The findings come in a new survey published today by Amadeus called Reboot Recharge Rethink Business Travel.
Almost two thirds of business travel agency leaders believe that MICE business will decrease although 36 per cent say that the sector will go through deep transformation (virtual meetings and hybrid events, for example).
More than half of those surveyed (51 per cent) said they believed that there would be an increase in managed travel over unmanaged travel. The other main changes are shown below.
Respondents to the survey also believe that business travel will recover first in the marine sector and then large corporations. The humanitarian sector will be the slowest to return, the report said.
In order to manage the new normal, business travel agencies are looking first and foremost at cost savings and efficiency gains (72 per cent of respondents), with just under half (49 per cent) saying that consolidation, expansion or acquisition is the answer.