by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 2:05 PM ET, Thu June 17, 2021
The SAP Concur Travel Industry Summit was held today, June 17, and revealed a new survey that demonstrates what businesses need for their employees to get back to traveling for business.
The SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey questioned almost 4,000 business travelers across the globe from April to May 2021.
The survey found that while stress levels during travel have reached pre-pandemic lows at 31 percent, compared to 45 percent last year, 89 percent of business travelers believe that their businesses have a responsibility to take care of their safety while traveling, giving their employees more choices over accommodations and flights while also allowing them to stay in four- and five-star hotels, choose direct flights and book higher quality seats on airplanes.
Flexibility is another important factor for a business traveler. Having the choice to choose accommodations, flights and travel dates are ten percent more important than vaccine-related concerns, like the desire to have everyone they meet while traveling to be vaccinated.
The largest generation that desires flexibility are Gen Z professionals, at 59 percent, who'd prefer to have a say in where and when they work. Both Gen Z and millennials believe that businesses will allow for travelers to have more control of their trips, at over 90 percent in both generational categories.
However, if businesses should intend to resume business travel in the same manner as they've done pre-pandemic, without implementing health and safety policies, 31 percent intend to ask their companies to limit their travel, with one in five respondents willing to look for a different job should they need to. This desire was much more prevalent among the younger generations, with 59 percent willing to limit travel or find another position.
A startling 96 percent of travelers are ready to travel for business within the next year, with the majority of that number pushing their companies to send them on trips. The Baby Boomer generation had the highest amount of individuals pushing to be sent on trips, at just under 75 percent.
There's a considerable level of worry among those who travel for business that should they not be able to travel soon, their work, home life and careers will ultimately suffer, while 41 percent just want to experience someplace new.
While there is a desire to travel once again in a business capacity, those who manage business travel will have to manage expectations which weren't there prior to the pandemic. Almost 100 percent of travel managers across the globe believe this year will be more challenging than last year, with new and revised policies, last-minute changes and cancellations to bookings and governmental regulations being some of the major issues considered. All of the managers surveyed mentioned their businesses would implement some type of safety protocols for travel in the future.
Business travelers worldwide have been given a new perspective on traveling, and that could lead to some challenges for businesses in the future. However, businesses should also be understanding of their employees' needs, especially in relation to health and safety concerns.
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