Originally Posted by
andrewn
For business I'd say the outlook is even more uncertain, and potentially gloomier. My experience is that many businesses are finding (1) they are getting by perfectly fine with Zoom, Teams et al and (2) the cost savings generated from the 100% reduction in travel are huge. I honestly see very little incentive for big business to get back to normality anytime soon, or even ever. I'd expect a very gradual uplift in business travel as restrictions are eased, but with a very low likelihood of overall business travel ever returning to pre-Covid levels.
Whilst I generally agree that business travel as a whole will take longer to recover to the same level, if ever, it’s worth noting that not all business travel is “meetings”. A lot of “business” travel is merely commuting, and ultimately if you work full time in Dubai but live in London, you’ll still be traveling between these places regularly, often at the company’s expense. Business travel from Europe to the Middle East especially will recover fairly quickly for this reason.
And it’s not just big business either - even my physio commutes from Copenhagen to my sleepy town near London every week.