Business travel, which has been perhaps the hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic in the last 18 months, could be on the verge of making a comeback sooner than predicted.
It’s possible that it’ll happen this year.
According to a survey performed by Oliver Wyman Inc., an increasing proportion of workers in the United States and a few other nations are keen to travel for business again rather than settling for a Zoom conference or working remotely.
Three-quarters of respondents who took four or more work-related travels in 2019 indicated they plan to take their next domestic flight within the next three months, according to a study of more than 900 Americans conducted in late June, the third of three studies. Almost nine out of ten stated they plan to travel for business at least as much in the next year as they did the year before the pandemic was proclaimed.
In comparison to responses given in Oliver Wyman’s October poll, there was a major shift toward an expectation of traveling as much as or more for business in the bigger worldwide survey of roughly 5,300 travelers from nine nations.
Only 11% of respondents said they planned to travel more for work in the coming year in October; 31% said they planned to travel more for business in the coming year in the June survey.
In June, 25% of respondents stated they anticipated to travel less, compared to 43% in October. China, the United States, and Australia were the countries most willing to travel for business once travel restrictions were eased.