Global business travel is clawing its way back to normal after being decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid shift to videoconferencing and virtual events, according to data from GBTA. Hit hard by the pandemic, global business travel activity plummeted 53.8% in 2020, generating just $661 billion in revenue — down from $1.43 trillion in 2019. That figure rose to $754 billion last year, is expected to top $1 trillion in 2022, and return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with revenues topping $1.48 trillion, according to the GBTA’s Business Travel Index (BTI) report released in November.
During the pandemic, companies turned to less time-consuming and more economical ways of connecting their workers through apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams and virtual business conferences. Now, as the Omicron variant wanes, most travel managers feel employees are willing to travel.
SOURCE: COMPUTERWORLD | FEATURES GBTA
