A new poll of members from the Global Business Travel Association, GBTA , shows that optimism for business travel is returning, with North America leading the way, while Asian business travelers are less optimistic. But most expect a return to business travel.
Of all of the respondents, 60% expect domestic travel will resume within the next 2-3 months while 45% expect international travel will resume in 6-8 months.
Companies in Asia continue to not expect to travel in the near future. Only 13% of Taiwanese firms, 12% of Chinese and 12% of companies in Asia Pacific expect business travel in the coming months.
The results show that this is a truly global crisis with still over 80% of all companies suspending most or all of their travel.
But on the optimistic side, a majority of companies have considered or plan to resume travel in the near future. Obviously US and Canadian firms seem more optimistic at the moment than Asia of Chinese ones, but as the Pandemic moves expect to see positive and negative sentiment change regularly.
In the end there are no quick fixes for the global business travel industry, aside from a vaccine. It’s still interesting to note that while business travel has been undeniably impacted, most expect a return to business travel before the end of 2020.
