The future of business travel in India
In 2019, scores of domestic and foreign guests travelled to Berlin to attend conferences and conventions, like the annual international tourism trade fair, ITB. Their visits translated into considerable revenue for the transportation and hospitality sector.
Estimates by Germany's business travel association (VDR) show that in 2019, German companies spent a record €55 billion ($61 billion) on business trips, sending 13 million employees on work-related trips.
The following year, business travel all but ceased. In a bid to contain the coronavirus, countries around the globe shut their borders. Countless conferences and trade fairs were cancelled or replaced by virtual events.
According to VDR estimates, in 2020, German companies reduced business trips by a staggering 80% compared to 2019. Last year was similarly grim. Germany's transport and hotel sector have taken a beating.
Airlines adapt to drop in corporate travel
Prior to the pandemic, Lufthansa, Germany's biggest carrier, earned half all revenue from business trips. Selling business class tickets has been highly lucrative for carriers, says professor Yvonne Ziegler, an aviation expert at Frankfurt's University of Applied Sciences.
So lucrative, in fact, that some airlines, including Lufthansa, have relied heavily on corporate travellers and afforded less attention to holidaymakers.
Now, major airlines like American, Delta, Emirates and Finnair have reacted to the sudden drop in work-related travel by removing business class berths from aircrafts and replacing them with premium economy class seats.
These boast additional leg room and better service, albeit at a higher ticket cost. Airlines, in short, are looking to woo leisure travellers willing to spend extra cash for extra comfort. It's a move born out of economic necessity.
"Very few conventions and conferences are being held at the moment, so few business travellers are flying, which means reserving excess space aboard aircrafts makes no sense," explains Ziegler.
While she expects business travel to make a comeback, Ziegler thinks recovery will be slow. Still, she is cautiously optimistic as ever more countries are lifting restrictions for business travellers.
