This text is part of the special Business Tourism booklet
Corporate responsibility for climate change and the value of business travel are the main trends that are likely to color the recovery of this sector, which has been completely disrupted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report released by BCD Travel last December, companies will need to determine what constitutes necessary business travel more than ever.
“One-day trips to attend a two-hour meeting are set to disappear,” the report said.
“Not all business trips are created equal. The reasons are scrutinized by the leaders, who note the savings collected in recent months. Thus, the weight of a meeting with a current or potential client differs from that of an internal meeting,” adds Amélie Racine, strategic watch analyst at the Transat Chair of Tourism at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
While companies of all sizes have invested considerable sums to integrate technological solutions that allow their employees to work remotely, the latter have also changed their expectations of their workplace.
BCD Travel has noticed the emergence of hybrid workers or what it calls “digital nomads”.
“The performance of technological tools certainly offers the possibility for employees and managers to take part in business meetings without having to travel, but they also allow them to work efficiently from any location”, he says. indicated in the Notebook 2022: Tourism perspectives of the Transat Tourism Chair at UQAM.
“Several experts therefore expect an increase in travel of the type bleisure and work over the next few months and years,” says Ms.me Root. The term bleisure is a portmanteau that mixes business (business) and leisure (leisure), while work is the contraction of work (work) and holiday (vacation).
From commuters to digital nomads
The BCD Travel study reveals that 85% of business travelers expect their employer to encourage hybrid working (a mix of telecommuting and working in the office) going forward.
More and more of them therefore want to work in different cities than the one where the office or headquarters of the company they work for is located.
This change in the way of life among the employees is called upon to create a change in the offer of business tourism, since the employees could be scattered all over the province or the country. “What was once a daily commute to the office now becomes a one-time business trip to head office,” the BCD Travel report said.
For employers, this new employee mobility can be financially beneficial. It can lead to lower workplace expenses and possibly even generate revenue through the subletting of underutilized office space. Moreover, a reduction in the work-home travel of employees is also beneficial for the ecological footprint of a company.
Responsibility in the face of climate change
The impact of business travel on the carbon footprint of organizations also makes managers think.
“Corporate social responsibility has been part of the business strategies of large and small companies for several years. Today, many of them agree that the recovery must imperatively be sustainable if we wish to face the other crisis, namely that associated with climate change”, is it mentioned in the 2022 notebook of the Transat Tourism Chair at UQAM.
According to an analysis by business intelligence firm Skift, a large number of multinationals are aiming for the common goal of reducing their emissions by 30% by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
While achieving these goals requires a reduction in business travel, some companies are also investing in sustainable aviation fuel and committing to using this fuel.
“For example, Deloitte has agreements with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines to use sustainable aviation fuel for some of its business travel, while Microsoft has such a contract with Alaska Airlines,” according to the BCD Travel report.
Several other factors about the future of business travel should be considered, such as the cybersecurity of traveling employees, notes the company BCD Travel, which helps companies in their overall management of business travel.