For most of us it has been an age since we hopped on a plane to go to a meeting. It’s still hard to fathom that a whole year has passed since the COVID pandemic hit us. Local restrictions, health and safety, and quarantine measures are not making it easy for us to get back to travel anytime soon.
Despite the restrictions and safety measures we are facing, we decided to ‘temperature check’ our 186,000 global LinkedIn followers to fathom their current feelings and eagerness to resume business travel, once restrictions are lifted. Findings from our mid-February research found that a staggering 58% of frequent business travelers have their ‘passport at the ready' to leave for the airport as soon as they possibly can. Another 19% are raring to go but are biding their time until they’re confident it’s safe to do so. 15% can’t see themselves taking to the skies for work for a long while and a very small percentage (4%) of respondents flagged that they plan never to travel again for business, as a result of the pandemic.
Our poll findings chime with a recent IHG study, which claims that 38% of Brits who travel for work say that business travel improves their mood and makes them more motivated at work.
There is a clear need for us to get out there and go places again. At a time when vaccinations are being rolled out globally, we are seeing a bit more light on the horizon every day. We all dream of getting back to the world we knew before COVID. We are even willing to put up with inflight dinners, noise, and debilitating jetlag. Health safety passports might be a way to speed up the process of flying again, although there is still work to be done to standardize a process on a global scale.
As travel expert Pauline Frommer, said recently in National Geographic magazine, “One of the great benefits of travel is meeting new people and coming into contact with different points of view. It is our second nature to connect with people; it drives us in all we do. Some of us even claim it is part of our DNA.” Undoubtedly, this sentiment is something that vividly resonates with our customers and 96% of our Linked audience - and CWT is ready and raring to go to safely and securely support every step of that journey, whether you’re passport ready or otherwise.