Treading responsibly

Before 2020, the last significant shock to the business travel world was the economic downturn that took hold following the failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008. In comparison to the events we have recently experienced, the impact was rather less pronounced and travel soon returned to the highest levels ever seen.

In the years prior to that recession, however, sustainability was becoming a key criterion in the industry. Travellers and business leaders alike were becoming increasingly aware of the impact of their actions on the planet, and many buyer/ supplier meetings covered the topic as a priority.

The reality is that, when the recovery happened and we all got back to reaping the benefits of a vibrant, successful industry, ESG seemed to fall back down the list of travel programme priorities, as proven by

ITM’S own Trending Survey at the time.

I would argue that the subject only began to receive something like an appropriate level of attention in the two to three years before Covid came and put our airmiles in the deep freeze.

I think we can mostly agree that the more modest recovery we have now begun will not push sustainability to the side-lines. This is primarily because a) the pandemic has given us tools and awareness to decide when and how to travel more responsibly and b) because the climate change discussion has continued to move on, along with the awareness and demographics of the traveller. Put simply, only travel and service providers who tread responsibly will succeed.

However, where suppliers are in the initial stages of building back their people and capacity, buyers are telling us that travellers are (through necessity) mostly taking the cheapest option that is available over the one which may perhaps be more responsible.

These are interesting times for travellers and buyers to try to remember that, like any kind of market dynamic, a purchase is a vote for what you would like to see more of.