TREND: THE ERA OF PURPOSEFUL TRAVEL

'PURPOSEFUL travel’ is a phrase that everyone in our industry is going to hear a lot more of in 2022 and beyond, says

Chris Thelen, Founder and CEO of Taketwo Travel Solutions and the new owner of Eton Travel Group, who cites two key factors driving the trend.

"Firstly, there is sustainability – and everyone is already talking about that. Business travellers need to have a very specific reason for travelling and to justify their trip because of the impact on their company’s carbon footprint.

"What’s not being discussed so openly is the second factor: risk management. Due to Covid, traveller health and wellbeing have now all been added to the ‘risk’ list, alongside natural disasters and terrorist atrocities. The level of risk will be a key factor in the decision whether a traveller should make the trip or not."

Barry Fleming, Head of Marketing at Blue Cube Travel, says organisations need to get a better understanding of what business travel should be and what value and ROI each trip will bring.

"Travelling less but travelling more effectively might be where corporates want to take this," he says.

Companies must now define what ‘good travel' looks like at a strategic level before looking at how various processes and tools could help manage that, he says.

"A symptom of this is an apparent swing away from pre-trip approval of bookings, often used to control whether the right in-policy options have been chosen, towards pre-booking approval, where the basic question is whether the trip should even happen," Fleming adds.