How to rescue business travel from the Covid-19 turbulence

Stethoscope, passport, mini- airplane and globe [Courtesy]

The proliferation of teleconferencing amid the Covid-19 pandemic is yet to diminish the integral role of international business travel in aiding investments, supply chains, logistics, and even intra-personal relations that grease the wheels of international trade.

Business travel plays a leading role in the travel and tourism sector, but this contribution is often overlooked as the discourse is usually centered on leisure travel. Business travel creates jobs and facilitates the infrastructure required for transportation, accommodation, and other services that leisure travelers also enjoy. Its significance has also been observed in ‘bleisure’ - a burgeoning trend in business travel - where business people opt to extend their work trips and tag their family and friends along to combine work with leisure. In 2019, a US car rental survey found that close to 90 per cent of millennial business travelers incorporated leisure in their work trips.