A few days ago, I headed out from New York City to Germany in anticipation of our upcoming GBTA Conference – Berlin in partnership with VDR.

The flight was full and many people showed the classic signs of a business traveler: carry-ons in tow and working on their computers inflight. And many of you are also getting back to more domestic and even long-haul international business travel, as shown by your numerous social media posts.  

But you don’t have to board a flight to see the upward momentum happening in business travel – recent headlines are also telling the story.  

More countries and regions – Australia, Israel, Portugal, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, to name a few – have announced they are reducing or eliminating COVID travel restrictions and requirements. Just in the recent days, airports and airlines are reporting slow but steady progress and adding business routes, while international ticket sales are also up. Hotel companies are also seeing an upward trend in corporate travel.  

If you’re looking for positive signs of business travel’s thoughtful recovery, they’re here. 

We haven’t yet hit an “official” endemic phase globally, and there are regions still challenged with pandemic outbreaks and lower-than-hoped-for vaccination rates. But our industry is moving into a more endemic way of managing it, step by step. The past two years have shown we can’t truly predict the patterns of a pandemic, but we are getting better at navigating COVID-related developments. Hopefully this puts us in a position to ride out any future COVID disruptions without shutting down the world again. 

After every challenge in the travel industry over the past twenty years, we’ve reset and gone forward, even if it means giving up some of our time and convenience (like removing our shoes and not bringing large bottles of liquids in our carry-ons, post-9/11). So we can expect some of the learnings from the pandemic will be here to stay. 

Being pragmatic and adaptable will be key. Your safety is my safety, and that safety will also help keep people, business and global economies moving and thriving. It’s worth it and needed to be in person. Connections mean business. And #BusinessNeedsTravel.  

This time next week the GBTA Conference-Berlin will be in full swing and I am looking forward to the connections and energy of being in person and continuing to (re)imagine and (re)create together what the “next normal” might be coming for business travel.