Business travelers itching to resume real meetings, finds survey

17th September 2021
Business travelers itching to resume real meetings, finds survey
Image: Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

September17 2021: Business travelers are looking beyond current  virtual meetings to  more face-to-face meetings, finds a survey of 738 business travelers worldwide by leading travel management company BCD Travel.
 Seventy-six percent of survey respondents said business travel helps them perform their work efficiently. In a post-pandemic travel environment, 60% prefer to return to pre-pandemic levels of business travel, while 26% prefer to travel less and 9% to travel more.
When it comes to corporate travel policies in a post-pandemic environment, survey respondents care mostly about being able to decide for themselves whether to travel (64%). In addition, they desire a more simplified trip approval process (58%) and the prioritizing of direct flights (53%).
For remote versus face-to-face meetings, 74% rate in-person client meetings as the most important reason for business travel, followed by team building, sales meetings and meetings with partners or suppliers.
Travelers mainly worry about quarantine on arrival, followed by concerns over sudden lockdowns and rapidly changing travel regulations.
Respondents believe the main weaknesses of virtual meetings are:
Lack of human contact (66%), limited interaction (58%), easy distraction (54%), unsuitability for some meeting types (51%), “Zoom fatigue” and technology issues (49%).   Full survey results at Travel News International