Most travel management pundits predict that domestic travel will pick up faster than international travel, although this small rate of increase will be triggered only by the current economic situation.  It is seen that domestic travel had recovered fully in two to three years in the previous economic slumpdown. Most businesses are expecting air travel to normalize, and this is evident from the increasing  air travel bookings in the US, the most severely pandemic-hit country, in the period between June and July. 

There are many mid-and senior-level executives in several corporate companies, particularly in the area of travel, finance and entertainment, who feel that business travel will resume no sooner than lockdown restrictions are relaxed, as Zoom meeting, and other virtual conferencing tools aren’t just good enough where human touch is of utmost essence.  Mergers and acquisition, worth billions of dollars, are at stake and to set them in motion, requires more than meeting the eyes with clients, colleagues, investors and project sponsors.  Logistics are very much in the scheme of things if key corporate events have to be conducted offline. Virtual summits, as most industry experts put it, are clearly rudderless without personalized call-to-action. There are many companies that have hired travel managers, and expecting the shutdown restrictions to be lifted to resume business travel. Amongst those who will be the first to hit the road include management consultants and VCs expected to revive the fortunes of the companies hit by pandemic-caused recession.

Corporate travel is slated to rebound at least by 50 percent same time next year, but conferences, industry summits, meet-ups and conventions may require more time to jump back than one may expect. It is to be noted that business or ‘bleisure’  travellers, as they are called due to the combination of business and leisure contribute the most to the travel sector as historically they have  never been price-sensitive unlike leisure travellers.  This seemingly justified optimism could even raise hotel rates and airfares in the same period.