Spending by German
companies on business travel has fallen to the lowest level since records began almost two decades ago, according to the German Business Travel Association (VDR).
A study by the buyers association found that business travel expenditure in 2020 was just
€10.1 billion, 81.7 per cent lower than in 2019 and the lowest figure since it
started collecting data 19 years ago.
In total, there
were 32.7 million business trips in 2020 (down 83.3 per cent on 2019) and 3.3
million business travellers (down 74.9 per cent). The vast majority of trips (83
per cent) were domestic. The research revealed that 28.6 per cent of SMEs
and 24.2 per cent of public sector organisations completely avoided business
trips during the year. However, trips by SMEs tended to be longer than pre-Covid.
The study revealed
that the added value of a business trip will be examined even more carefully in
the future. Some 80 per cent of the larger and 72 per cent of the smaller
companies and 81 per cent of those in the public sector expect a permanent
reduction in business travel – on average of 30 per cent.
It also found that 84
per cent of those responsible for business travel will include working from
anywhere, increasingly also from the home office, in their planning while 90
per cent of travel managers in companies and 97 per cent in the public sector
state that sustainability will develop into a competitive factor to a large
extent or in some cases when choosing service providers.
VDR vice president
Inge Pirner said, “The results show painfully the force with which the Covid-19
pandemic hit companies and providers in the business travel industry. The
analysis also proves once again the importance of business travel for Germany
as a business location.
“In the years
before the pandemic, companies and their business travellers made a steadily
increasing contribution to regional value creation in addition to spending on
transport and accommodation - for example in gastronomy, retail, the service
sector and culture. These contributions benefitting other industries almost completely collapsed in the corona year.”
He concluded, “In
the future it will not be possible to completely replace face-to-face
encounters with video conferences. Rather, it will depend on finding
alternatives that are sensitive to the situation. For necessary trips,
there will be a greater planning effort, especially in the transition phase to
the 'post-pandemic period'. Employers will deal even more intensively with
the question of how they can best support their travellers.”