Corporate travel will not return to its pre-pandemic level, with pressures on cost and on companies to decarbonise leading large firms to question the purpose of trips.
That is according to senior corporate travel managers speaking at an Institute of Travel Management (ITM) Trending Summit in London last week.
The corporate travel head of a global business consultancy insisted: “Financials have become the top priority. Client-facing travel will happen so long as it generates revenue, which is 60%-70% of travel volume. But the remaining international travel has to have a purpose.”
The global travel operations manager at a multinational IT and analytics group agreed, saying: “Budgets are being capped at 70% for international meetings. We’ve seen increases in airfares so that will have an impact.
“Managers are looking at how many people are going on trips and taking the numbers down.”
They also warned: “There is a risk of budgets running out and trips being cancelled.”
The head of corporate travel and meetings at a multinational retailer said: “Travel is not at the pre-Covid level. People’s behaviour is changing. We push on the reason for travel now. Trips have to be ‘purposeful’.”
The global head of travel at a major bank argued: “Non-revenue-generating travel has hit a wall.”
They added: “There won’t be so many trips because of costs. Travel can represent 20% and upwards of [corporate] carbon emissions. If travellers don’t take account of carbon, we won’t hit our targets.”
The global travel director at a multinational technology company said: “There is a lot of guesswork on what our travel programme for next year will look like. We’re looking to have a carbon budget and at transferring some air travel to rail.”
An ITM ‘trending survey’ of corporate travel managers and buyers conducted in November found ‘budget control’ was one of their biggest concerns, along with dissatisfaction with online booking tools and the company’s duty of care toward its travellers.
Two-thirds (68%) of members identified service delivery as the biggest challenge facing the sector, followed by travel management company service (61%) and the state of the economy (52%).
One in four expected their corporate travel budget for 2023 to be lower than this year, although half expected it to increase, and 40% said they were involved in company discussions about return on investment from travel.
One in four (24%) said they had introduced or would introduce a carbon budget for travel in 2023.
ITM chief executive Scott Davies said: “Almost all buyers expect their airlines to make commitments on use of sustainable aviation fuel.”
● Corporate travel managers and buyers at the summit spoke on condition of anonymity.