This isn’t the first time business travel is discussed as part of our ongoing discussion on travel post-pandemic situation. The outbreak of COVID-19 all over the world shattered the dreams of business employees travelling from one part of the globe to another. Remote employees were connected through online communication and messaging tools, most part of the time, and accessibility to files and documents was made possible through secure enterprise tools.  The question of personalization is far-fetched here. Business and corporate travel hasn’t suffered as much as the period following COVID-19.  

It is important for businesses and corporates to build a strong company culture through forging connections between employees. It should be a deliberate approach as part of the communication process. Business travel and personalized meets are great ways to building a sustainable employee culture.  Are companies really prepared to invest in business travel as the need for conducting company-wide meetups to interact directly with clients and employees increases? 

There is an another trend that is fast catching up with corporate employees: professionals, post-pandemic, will likely relocate to new places, as their jobs are no longer fixed to a physical location. This means more employees will be travelling to newer job destinations even though it may be temporary. All said and done travel managers should now incorporate safety precautions and travel protocol as part of the Duty of Care, simply to being responsible for their employee’s health, security, safety and well-being. Travel policy should be re-framed so as to understand the travel behaviour of the employees. 

Now, there’s always the question of whether an employee wants to travel or not, either for sales meet or customer-acquisition or retention, considering the risk factors involved in travel post-pandemic situation, which the travel manager and concerned department head can address to diffuse fear and anxiety amongst employees.