Global leisure and enterprise journey is experiencing a rebound and the rebound is going on rapidly, and that is having a knock-on impact.
According to FCM Travel South Africa, airports around the globe are reporting delays, queues and flight disruptions as they wrestle to rent (and rehire) workers rapidly sufficient to fulfill the massive surge in demand.
The firm believes that air journey’s restoration is being led by home, regional and leisure journey, with worldwide enterprise journey mentioning the rear.
Citing a brand new research by Deloitte, FCM states that though enterprise journey continues to make a gentle, however sluggish, return, restoration to 2019 ranges is being impacted by new Covid-19 variants; office flexibility and work-from-home policies; sustainability objectives; and rising gasoline prices.
Following their international Th!nk occasion in May, the corporate’s GM for Travel South Africa, Bonnie Smith, shared some insights into the traits shaping enterprise journey right this moment.
Airlines
“What was clear from FCM’s Th!nk is that air travel now has significant momentum, and global airline seats are recovering well,” mentioned Smith.
“North America, for example, is forecast to exceed their pre-Covid levels by 6% come September/October, while Africa is already looking at 80% recovery in comparison to 2019 figures – with Nigeria already at over 100%.”
She known as these developments extremely encouraging.
“It shows that airlines are feeling confident to bring their all aircraft back online, add capacity, and restaff as quickly as possible.”
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Smith cautioned, nonetheless, that this return to normality is anticipated to be tempered by an increase in gasoline prices. “Fuel prices are already affecting people personally, and there’s no doubt the rising cost of fuel will impact airlines, airfares, and in turn, decisions around business travel,” says Smith.
“For South Africans, and South African companies, it is going to be the biggest concern this year.”
Hotel lodging
Speaking at Th!nk 2022, Felicity Burke, GM FCM Australia, famous that worldwide occupancy in 2019 sat at 65%, and as of April 2022 the determine was 61%.
“Accommodation occupancy has bounced back, which is a really strong sign when it comes to recovery. There are still some hotels that aren’t fully open, that is, they are operating, but are waiting for more staff to be able to full operate the entire hotel. But it’s a positive trend,” she added.
Smith believes that that is the proper time to lock down charges together with your lodging suppliers.
“Many hotels had put a rates freeze in place, but now with an increase in demand, inflation and fuel prices, we can expect hotel rates to increase. Chat to your TMC about negotiating packages on your behalf – or using their buying to ensure you always qualify for volume rates, discounts or additional perks.”
Traveller behaviour
Despite a rise in traveller confidence, last-minute bookings are nonetheless the predominant pattern in 2022.
“Travel bookers have had a bumpy ride,” mentioned Smith.
“The last two years have been characterised by disruption, travel restrictions and border closures. Perhaps understandably, last-minute bookings remain the order of the day. But it is an expensive way to book travel. We need to educate travellers about the benefits of booking in advance, flexible fares, and the need to move away from last-minute bookings.”
According to Deloitte, distant working had a serious impact on company journey and 2022’s ‘return-to-office’ pattern is anticipated to speed up within the second and third quarter of the 12 months, making it simpler to ask staff to journey and simpler to arrange in-person consumer conferences. Live business occasions are additionally returning, which bodes nicely for company journey.
“Of course, It’ll be interesting to watch how the pandemic’s impact on how we live and work continues to shape business travel. For example, companies are under pressure to attract good staff to fill vacancies. Salaries have gone up, and ‘work from anywhere’ policies and the opportunity to travel have become critical in attracting key talent. TMCs will be doing a lot of work in terms of updating travel policies to include remote working, bleisure, applications for long-stay visas and the like,” remarked Smith.
Traveller expertise
Burke says the traveller expertise has “absolutely changed.”
“The expectation for everything to be digital, touchless and instant has just heightened over the last two years.”
Smith agrees, saying that travellers anticipate hyper-personal service, 24-hour assist and up-to-the-minute info and communication.
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“It’s a marriage of tech and touch. At FCM we ensure that travellers have all the tools they need for a seamless journey, for example, mobile apps / digital communication channels but that we back it up with personal, direct – not call centre – support.”
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
The largest buzzword globally? ESG. Burke goes so far as saying that ESG is now the primary choice standards – forward of value – when taking a look at new procurement of contracts.
“In terms of business travel, the assessment areas for ESG are hotels; airlines; car hire and ground transport; offset programmes and alternatives to travel; and demand management.”
And whereas this can be a sizzling subject internationally, Smith believes South Africa is enjoying catch up.
“In Europe, for example, we’ve heard stories whereby corporate travel buyers are being measured on a carbon budget in addition to their monetary budget – and when that budget is spent, business travel comes to an end. South Africa has a long way to go, but this will change.”
For Smith this implies creating an ESG-centric journey programme which seems carefully at how your organisation builds sustainability into your journey programme, the way you set targets, work with suppliers, reward travellers for altering their journey behaviour, and then report in your progress.
As Burke mentioned at Th!nk 2022, “Travel is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, so we have to decide how we make the world a better place for our children – and their children”.
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Compiled by Kaunda Selisho
