Business travel in Germany should return to “more normalcy” in 2022 as countries and travel providers get “better and better” at dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
VDR president Christoph Carnier said face-to-face meetings should “hopefully become easier again” as vaccination rates continue to rise.
“The countries, the providers and we too will learn to deal with the pandemic better and better,” said Carnier in a new year message to members. “This makes a quick return to more normalcy more likely.”
Carnier also highlighted other issues that have been obscured by the pandemic recently, such as sustainability and “flying without pre-payment”.
He said the VDR’s new taskforce on sustainability had started work before the end of 2021 and was currently “developing concrete assistance” for members on this key priority for the industry.
Carnier added that Lufthansa’s move to expand its Pay As You Fly price model to corporate customers last year had been a “great achievement” for the entire industry.
“But for us this should only be the beginning, because it will only be a success if significantly more airlines offer an alternative concept to pre-payment,” stressed Carnier.
VDR has also been busy establishing contacts in the new German coalition government following the departure of long-serving chancellor Angela Merkel.
Carnier added that they were also “hoping for some relief” on the need to complete the EU’s A1 certificate for business trips, which can create “significant additional workload”.