In the ITB virtual convention, Christoph Garnier – President of VDR – the German Business Travel Association — spoke in detail about future prospects for global business travel.

Garnier announced details of the organisation’s annual Business Travel Report. It showed that in 2019, German-based companies spent €53.5bn on business travel in all its forms.

“This is not something that will disappear all of a sudden”, said Garnier, adding, “Sometimes when I read articles with people saying ‘business travel will disappear in the future’, it makes me a little bit angry.”

He says on the one hand, while it is a cost for the companies, one cannot really replace business travel, adding, “Getting back to business means also getting back to business travel.”

According to the VDR President, the majority of companies his organisation has been in contact with say they are looking forward to restarting business travel, to meet customers, or to bring together project groups.

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Garnier quoted an industry study by Cambridge University – “Knowledge diffusion in the network of international business travel”, which he says points out the fact that a great deal of information and knowledge is transferred to others during a business trip – things that are not written in PowerPoints or other presentations; information which is shared in personal discussions and meetings.

VDR studies indicate a number of changes when it comes to priorities in travel management due to the Covid-19 crisis. 57% of respondents said the main priority was simply if and how a business trip might even be possible – along with how travellers can be protected.

Another new priority is finding other options to travel altogether, such as online tools and web meetings.

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