Europe Companies Twice as Likely to Travel than North America

A global survey of Uniglobe Travel corporate clients finds that companies in Europe are almost twice as likely as those in North America to have employees travelling now or expect to have travel within 3 months.  Just 32% of North American companies indicated that they have employees currently travelling, will do so within a month, or within 2-3 months, compared to 61% of European companies.  Globally, this number was 48.7%.

The survey was conducted by Uniglobe Travel from June 15-25, asking travel managers and decision makers from corporate accounts to answer 14 questions about how their travel policy was changing to reflect the Covid19 travel environment and their timing and expectations about the resumption of travel.

In line with Europe’s earlier expectations of travel, 56% of European companies had already made travel policy changes compared with only 41% of North American companies. The most common policy changes globally were limiting or banning travel for internal meetings (64.1%) followed by limiting participation at meetings or conferences based on attendee numbers or places of origin (54.1%).

“Looking at the travel policy changes, there is a discernable traveller-centric approach,” says Martin Charlwood, President & Chief Operating Officer for Uniglobe Travel International. “The least popular policy changes are those that impact traveller rights and privacy – such as requiring them to sign liability waivers, use a tracking app or restricting their personal activities including staying with friends and family during a business trip.”

Another area of interest in the survey looks at environmental and sustainability considerations in corporate travel policy. “As companies have increasingly been prioritizing sustainability within travel programs, we know that balancing sustainability with physical distancing can be problematic,” says Andrew Henry, VP US Operations for Uniglobe Travel International. “Many forms of environmentally friendly travel – such as shared transport – are less popular or viable at this time. However, it was encouraging to see that amongst companies that had sustainability elements in their pre-Covid19 travel policy, well over half of those expect the sustainability policies to be strengthened or enhanced in the next 18 months.”

Uniglobe Travel agencies worldwide will continue to consult with their clients on their evolving travel policy and will now use this survey report and data, along with other Uniglobe resources, to do so.

See Uniglobe Corporate Travel Policy Survey results and key findings attached.

About Uniglobe Travel

With a global network of local travel agencies across more than 60 countries, Uniglobe Travel leverages current technologies and preferred pricing to deliver leading edge travel management services with a local, customer-centric approach. With a focus on small and medium business travel as well as leisure, our goal is to drive success through better travel.

Uniglobe Travel was founded in 1981 by U. Gary Charlwood, CEO, and is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. It generates annual system-wide sales of circa $5 billion (pre-Covid19).

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