Half of corporate travel managers believe their company employees are willing to travel again, according to the latest Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) poll.
But more than one in five (22%) managers polled by GBTA believe corporate travellers are not willing to return to travel, and only one in 10 (9%) “very willing”.
However, the poll found 60% of travel managers believe the availability of a vaccine next year would make corporate travel programmes more likely to sanction travel.
A similar proportion (58%) said they would be interested in quarantine exemptions for some international business trips.
Gbta found three in five member companies would be ‘likely’ (44%) or ‘very likely’ (16%) to allow business travel with the prospect of a vaccine.
Only 10% said their company was still unlikely to sanction travel and 11% unsure.
Asked if there should be an exception to quarantine requirements for business travellers making short trips to meet only a few people, 58% of respondents globally expressed interest 66% in Europe.
Half (49%) felt their company would be willing to encourage employees to download a Covid-19 track and trace app, and 62% in Europe.
However, six out of 10 European travel buyers (60%) expect domestic business travel to take four to nine months to reach at least half of 2019 levels.
Half (50%) expect regional business travel also to take four to nine months to reach half of 2019 volumes.
But 63% of European buyers expect long-haul business travel to take up to 24 months to return to half of 2019’s level.
Among non-European buyers, 58% expect domestic business travel to reach 50% of 2019’s level within nine months and 54% for international travel to take 10-24 months to reach that level.
GBTA interim executive director Dave Hilfman said: “The news of a vaccine has been well received among members with an uplift in activity as the industry collaborates to find a safe and responsible return to travel.
“Ad hoc government restrictions continue to be the main deterrent and GBTA continues to advocate a unified approach across the world.”
The poll results are based on 822 responses after GBTA polled members around the world on November 9-16.