The need to mandate all bookings for duty of care and cost control purposes brought about by the Covid pandemic looks set to stay when the crisis is over, according to a UK TMC. The company also predicts that proof of vaccination against Covid will become an essential item for business travellers.
Corporate Traveller, which specialises in SME clients, says that 85 per cent of its clients have moved to a fully managed travel programme in response to their changing hierarchy of needs.?
¡°Traveller wellbeing, duty of care, pre-trip approval, cost control, sustainability and visibility have all become much more important for SMEs and all these aspects are very difficult for them to handle themselves with an unmanaged travel programme,¡± said Corporate Traveller¡¯s UK managing director Andy Hegley.
He added, ¡°Previously we probably experienced leakage of around 10 per cent where travellers booked their own hotel or flight online. But Covid-19 has brought about a huge change whereby SMEs are moving into the large corporate space in terms of recognising the need to mandate all bookings for duty of care and cost control purposes.¡±
The TMC also predicts that for business travellers having an international certificate of Covid-19 vaccination will become the norm and that SMEs will resume travel more quickly than larger corporates once vaccines and testing become readily available.