The Busy Business Traveller Blog

One of the main consequences of COVID has been change – and lots of it. Almost all aspects of daily life have undergone a transformation to a certain extent, and how and why we travel is certainly no exception. It is evident how business travel, in particular, has altered over the past few months, but what remains to be seen is what it will look like in the years to come. So, what are the changes that corporate travellers can expect to see in a post-COVID world?  1. Business travel will experience a slow and steady revival Currently, most business owners are taking a wait-and-see approach to organising corporate travel for their employees. The State of the Market research recently conducted by the Flight Centre Travel Group indicates that 26% of businesses are planning to return to the same pre-COVID-19 levels for domestic travel during 2021. The remaining 74% of businesses predict reduced domestic travel for the immediate year ahead. Having said that, there is no escaping the fact...

  Who wouldn’t want international travel to be part of their job description?  Most people consider business travel a status symbol and a perk of the job – in fact, according to a survey by the accommodation website Booking.com for Business, 30 percent of people who travel on business would take a job at a lower salary if they could travel more. Similar research by the website LateRooms.com indicates that 41 percent of workers want to do more business travel. This suggests that company bosses may be underestimating the value of business travel as an incentive and an element of remuneration. The Booking.com research shows that more and more employees are blurring the line between business and leisure by extending trips to include leave time in overseas destinations. Nearly half (49 percent) of respondents in the Booking.com survey had done so in the previous 12 months and a third of them intended to do so again at the earliest opportunity. In fact, the trend is so well establis...

  No matter the size of your business, saving on travel is important. Even if your business can afford not to be frugal about corporate travel, that still doesn’t mean that your management shouldn’t be smart about it. Give your employees the freedom to choose and spend, and you will quickly go bankrupt – but give them a great policy, and they will save you money. Here’s how to reduce your corporate travel spending for good: Book Early and Stay Flexible Every frequent flyer knows the first rule of frugal travelling: book early . Planning in advance can help you save a lot of money on airfare and hotel stay. Unfortunately, this isn’t always applicable to corporate travel. A great percentage of work-related trips gets scheduled at the eleventh hour, which is why this type of business spending tends to be so costly in the first place. Nevertheless, you should book early whenever you can. If you start tracking your employees’ travelling habits, you’ll discove...

For travellers who normally fret about forgetting passports, shaving kits or clean underwear, there is a whole new set of concerns as they prepare to hit the road again after being housebound amid the coronavirus pandemic. With stay-at-home orders being lifted, those who travel frequently for business or pleasure are mapping their own strategies on items and procedures they'll need to stay safe at airports, on planes, in hotels or just trying to get from place to place. "We never thought about everything we touch from the time we leave our home," says Peter Greenberg , travel editor on "CBS This Morning" and host of the "Travel Detective" series on PBS. As one who has logged hundreds of thousands of miles on assignment, Greenberg doesn't plan to go to absurd lengths to avoid the virus ("I refuse to turn myself into a hazmat suit"), but he says he has a number of ideas that should help minimize the risk. Besides having a mask, he says he p...

Ensure you're covered for accidents, illnesses and emergencies Probably one of the most important items on every traveller's must-have list is  travel insurance . Sales and marketing manager Simmy Micheli, which is underwritten by Santam, says that accidental injuries, rather than illnesses, account for more than half of the value of claims it receives. Last year, for instance, the company had an R230,000-claim from a 43-year-old traveller who fell downstairs and suffered a concussion while visiting Zimbabwe, and an R650,000 claim from a 40-year-old who slipped at a pool in Mauritius. Further statistics show that about 15% of claims are from travellers who cancel their prepaid trips and, here, the most common cause is a medical emergency. One of the best benefits of a travel policy, Micheli says, is the medical cover. SEEKING TREATMENT FOR A FALL OR EVEN A BOUT OF FLU OVERSEAS CAN BE COSTLY. Seeking treatment for a fall or even a bout of the flu overseas can...