Rebuilding global consumer confidence and promoting safe travel are essential to kick start the global economy, which has been badly hit because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Reviving commercial air travel, international business trips in particular, could facilitate the much-needed global economic recovery.
Each year, inbound international business travel accounts for more than $272bn, data provided by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) show.
Of the G20 countries, the US had the highest international business travel spend in 2019, at $47.75bn. Germany was second with $12.8bn, China third with $10.7bn, the UK fourth with $9.5bn and Russia fifth with $8.6bn.
While leisure travel makes up the bulk of international travel and tourism spend (83.77%), (inbound) international business travel (at 16.23%) is relied upon heavily by many international airlines, which depend upon frequent flying business travellers, especially on highly competitive routes across the Atlantic, for their profits.
The restoration of international business travel could benefit the entire travel and tourism sector; from airlines and hotels to travel management companies and ground transport providers, reviving tens of thousands of jobs and a multitude of companies which depend upon business travel for their survival.
However, WTTC warns this will only happen if the government takes a targeted approach, ditching blunt country-wide quarantines, which have a devastating economic impact.
One of the biggest challenges facing airlines is the implosion of business travel. Corporate conferences have been cancelled. Investment bankers, wealth managers and other financial industry executives are doing deals virtually. And companies aren’t rewarding star performers with travel junkets.
Oliver Wyman, a prominent international management consulting firm points out, “One factor holding back demand is the anticipated shrinkage in business travel. We expect it to remain at least 25% below pre-pandemic levels for the foreseeable future, at least into 2021, as companies cut back on trips between their own offices and facilities, relying instead on videoconferencing. Such internal travel, which also includes leadership meetings and professional development, makes up about 40% of total corporate demand, according to our analysis. We expect corporate external travel to return, but at a slower rate than domestic leisure travel.”
The council has called for ‘air corridors’ between key global cities to restore business travel and the introduction of a pilot scheme, involving airport-based testing, followed by a second test just days later, for travel between the financial hubs of London and New York, with the aim of re-starting business travel.
WTTC President & CEO Gloria Guevara said, “While the recent ‘island policy’ introduced by the UK government marks a step in the right direction with a more targeted approach, WTTC believes a laser-like focus is necessary to reopen key international business routes, which could provide a significant economic boost.
“Flights must be restored along ‘city corridors’ linking cities with similar low Covid-19 case numbers, such as between London and New York, Washington, Paris, Frankfurt, Dubai, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“Every time the UK government places another destination on its quarantine list, the economy suffers. International business travel is the lifeblood of the global economy contributing more than $272bn a year. Therefore, the government should abandon quarantines, which don’t work, and focus on more targeted measures like ‘city corridors’.
“The WTTC pilot scheme with its twin test regime, will help reassure corporates that it is safe for their employees to travel and remove the need for unhelpful quarantines. We need a concerted international framework at the highest level to introduce comprehensive, rapid and cost-effective testing at airports, with a worldwide accepted standard of contact tracing and widespread use of face masks.
“To continue with the current chaos would be a huge mistake and would cause further severe economic damage and unnecessary hardship to millions around the world.”
The coronavirus pandemic has decimated air travel globally. Airlines worldwide have been largely grounded since mid-March.
Air travel has fallen on hard times since the onset of the pandemic six months ago, with the number of travellers dropping significantly.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused commercial air travel to come to a standstill for several months, and it is now at only a fraction of 2019 demand!
Financially, 2020 will go down as the worst year in the history of aviation. Globally, airlines are expected to lose $84.3bn this year.
And the situation is not improving either. In fact, in many cases it is going in the wrong direction.
The global body of airlines — International Air Transportation Association (IATA) predicted in late July that global air travel won’t recover from the pandemic until 2024, a year later than its previous projection.
Research suggests that some 60% of travellers will be eager to recommence travel within a few months of the pandemic coming under control. The same research also indicates that an even greater percentage of potential travellers until their personal financial situation stabilises (69%) or if quarantine measures are in place (over 80%).
Obviously, getting people safely flying again will be a powerful economic boost because about 10% of the world’s GDP is from tourism and much of that depends on air travel.
People will want to fly again, provided they have confidence in their personal financial situation and the measures taken to keep travellers safe.
The implementation of a rapid test and trace strategy, with strong collaboration between governments to ensure a standardised global approach to the crisis is critical to contain the virus and enable people to travel in safety.

* Pratap John is Business Editor at Gulf Times. Twitter handle: @PratapJohn