Business travel activity continues to rebound, with international trips now returning in greater numbers and corporates reporting, on average, a return to 56 per cent of pre-Covid bookings.
The findings come from the Global Business Travel Association’s April recovery poll of more than 500 business travel professionals, with the organisation reporting that business travel is “surging forward” and “industry recovery is entrenched”.
Its research found that the number of companies now ‘sometimes’ or ‘usually’ permitting non-essential international business trips has risen to 74 per cent, up by 26 per cent from February. Sixteen per cent of respondents said non-essential international business trips are rarely allowed and ten per cent said they are not allowed at all.
Non-essential domestic business trips are now sometimes or usually allowed by 86 per cent of respondents – up 13 per cent from February – although eight per cent said such trips are rarely allowed and five per cent said they remain off limits.
The survey also revealed that North American companies (89 per cent) are marginally more likely to allow domestic trips than European organisations (87 per cent), but the reverse is true of international trips, with 79 per cent of European companies permitting them compared to 74 per cent of North American organisations.
Of the 225 travel buyers surveyed, 47 per cent said their organisation’s business travel bookings were now back to more than half of pre-pandemic levels, with eight per cent saying they are now exceeding pre-Covid activity.
Around a fifth (19 per cent) said they were at 30 per cent or less of pre-pandemic bookings, with another 18 per cent at 31-50 per cent.
On average, travel buyers say their company’s business travel bookings currently stand at 56 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, up 22 per cent from February.
Meanwhile, 88 per cent of travel suppliers surveyed said corporate bookings have increased in the past month – up from 45 per cent in February – and on average report bookings are at 44 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
“We’re seeing significant gains in the return of business travel, especially over the past month or two. More companies are allowing domestic and now also international employee travel,” said GBTA chief executive Suzanne Neufang.
“Booking levels and travel spending continue to return, and there’s high levels of optimism and employee willingness to travel for business. This comes even as the industry faces challenges beyond Covid-19 including rising fuel prices, inflation, supply chain disruption and war in Ukraine.”