Business travel has been hit head-on by the COVID crisis. Experts
report that it will never pick up to 2019 levels, and it is commonly said
that Zoom killed business travel. I personally believe that business travel
will recover but with different priorities.
Although video conferencing may replace most internal
meetings, it will mainly replace phone calls, not human interactions. Other
factors, like high-speed trains or corporate approval processes, existed before
the pandemics and have already affected business travel patterns. Also, sustainability
was already on top of the air travel agenda before COVID, and it will remain
there. We must look elsewhere for the future changes in business travel post
pandemic.
Travelers want attention
What used to matter most to business travelers for air
travel was schedule and price and for hotels was location and price. All search
systems were initially designed based on this assumption.
With health and…