As the world continues to reopen and resume travel post-pandemic, new trends are emerging as companies embrace hybrid work and business travel budgets are reduced. European hospitality company Accor recently hosted its Masters of Travel 2022 event and subsequently released key findings and trends in a new report titled The Business of Travel.
Travel is certainly recovering quickly this year — 80% of people surveyed by Accor across five major European countries indicated that they have t least one trip abroad planned in 2022 — but many businesses are being more intentional about who they send to meetings and events as they aim to cut both their expenses and their environmental impact.
Notably, Accor’s SVP of Sales Northern Europe, Sophie Hulgard, noted that she expects 20 percent fewer business trips in 2022 compared to 2019, and she believes that 20 percent of business meetings are gone forever, having either been replaced by virtual meetings or nixed entirely because organizers realized they weren’t necessary.
However, the value of face-to-face meetings continues to be reaffirmed as Accor research found that workers expect to make 25 percent more revenue from in-person meetings over virtual equivalents. The business travel that is taking place this year is adapting to our new reality in that trips are often longer — one-night stays are becoming less and less common — for several reasons.
Traveling in general has become more difficult with increased delays and cancellations as airlines also experience staff shortages and other challenges. Staying longer means that employees can maximize their time and group multiple meetings into one trip or tack on leisure time with fewer hassles related to traveling.
In addition, sustainability continues to be top of mind and was a big topic at Masters of Travel this year. Taking longer — and therefore fewer – trips also enables workers to reduce their carbon footprint.
Accor’s report quotes several delegates from the meeting, stating “‘In 2023 we will have a carbon budget instead of financial budget,” and “Previously we always focused on cost optimisations and very cost driven choices. Now the coin for the future is not Euro it’s CO2.”