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Corporate travel in Europe to rebound faster than in NA: survey
A global survey of Uniglobe Travel corporate clients finds that companies in Europe are almost twice as likely as those in North America to have employees travelling now, or expect to have travel within three months.
Just 32 per cent of North American companies indicated that they have employees currently travelling, will do so within a month, or within two to three months, compared to 61 per cent of European companies. Globally, this number was 48.7%.
European companies act faster on travel policies
The survey was conducted by Uniglobe Travel from June 15th-25th, asking travel managers and decision makers from corporate accounts to answer 14 questions about how their travel policy was changing to reflect the COVID-19 travel environment and their timing and expectations about the resumption of travel.
In line with Europe’s earlier expectations of travel, 56 per cent of European companies had already made travel policy changes compared with only 41 per cent of North American companies. The most common policy changes globally were limiting or banning travel for internal meetings (64.1 per cent) followed by limiting participation at meetings or conferences based on attendee numbers or places of origin (54.1 per cent).
“Looking at the travel policy changes, there is a discernible traveller-centric approach,” said Martin Charlwood, president & COO for Uniglobe Travel International. “The least popular policy changes are those that impact traveller rights and privacy – such as requiring them to sign liability waivers, use a tracking app or restricting their personal activities including staying with friends and family during a business trip.”
Sustainable & environmental factors
Another area of interest in the survey looks at environmental and sustainability considerations in corporate travel policy.
“As companies have increasingly been prioritizing sustainability within travel programs, we know that balancing sustainability with physical distancing can be problematic,” said Andrew Henry, VP U.S. operations for Uniglobe Travel International. “Many forms of environmentally friendly travel – such as shared transport – are less popular or viable at this time. However, it was encouraging to see that amongst companies that had sustainability elements in their pre-Covid19 travel policy, well over half of those expect the sustainability policies to be strengthened or enhanced in the next 18 months.”
Uniglobe Travel agencies worldwide will continue to consult with their clients on their evolving travel policy and will now use this survey report and data, along with other Uniglobe resources, to do so.
See Uniglobe Corporate Travel Policy Survey results and key findings attached.