With domestic leisure travel back to 99% of pre-pandemic levels, industry leaders are looking to get back to business.
Business travel, that is.
Contrasting with the leisure sector of the industry, the corporate travel segment — which includes professionally managed meetings, incentives, conferences and expeditions (MICE) — is severely lagging. In pre-pandemic times, corporate travel contributed $791 billion dollars to the U.S. economy and supported 5 million jobs; currently, only one-third of businesses are engaging in business travel, and the sector is experiencing a 69% decline in spending over 2019.
In fact, this area of travel has seen a “disproportionate amount of harm that has been done through the pandemic,” according to Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, during a June 15 media conference on corporate travel recovery.
And U.S. Travel’s latest research from data partner Tourism Economics shows a bleak outlook for the future. If circumstances don’t change, business travel will only be 75% recovered by 2024.
“Once, it was such a powerful section of our travel and U.S. economy, and a major economic driver of our total economy because so much happens due to business travel,” Dow said. “We really need to take a look at how we can get this going faster… We want to get back to the pace."
We really need to take a look at how we can get this going faster … We want to get back to the pace.
To speed up the process, U.S. Travel launched its “Let’s Meet There” initiative, a data-driven campaign that communicates the differences between professionally managed business travel and events and what most people consider “large gatherings.”
But what stands in the way of recovery, according to Dow, is a “patchwork of reopening protocols that are going on from state to state, and city to city.”
“Business leaders really don’t know what to expect when they go to a destination,” he said. “So, we really need to get a consistent look around the United States. We also have some outdated attendance limitations, and we are waiting for clear guidance from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention).”
Adam Sacks, the president of Tourism Economics, noted that states with more lenient restrictions — such as those in the South and Southwest — will be first out of the gate for recovery, while urban environments will likely take longer to rebound.
Dow is also calling for policies that provide insights in how to host professional meetings and events; the U.S. Travel Association has partnered with leading healthcare scientists at The Ohio State University to share a white paper that includes science-backed recommendations to safely host meetings.
The recommendations, according to Dr. Bernadette Melnyk, vice president for health promotion, university chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University, include:
- Requiring masks for all unvaccinated people and encouraging but not requiring masks for vaccinated people at MICE.
- Fully vaccinated people do not need to physically distance from others, except where required. If the event includes non-vaccinated attendees, recommendations include a six-feet social distancing policy coupled with mask use. If the meeting requires proof of vaccination, physical distancing is not required.
- Meeting planners should consider pre-packaged meals with low-touch distribution methods for food and drinks.
- Ventilation systems should be evaluated to ensure that occupancy at meetings and events does not exceed allowable interflow rate standards. Events should also follow CDC recommendations for disinfecting surfaces in conjunction with encouraging good hand hygiene.
- Organizers should promote individual healthy lifestyle behaviors that can boost the immune system’s protection against infection.
“The safety measures we have implemented over the last year have been proven to be effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19,” Melnyk said during the June 15 press conference. “We understand and recognize that professional meetings and events are viewed as critical connection points for business to be conducted … It is true that a return to these events with proper evidence-based enforced precautions in place is possible in the current environment. The recommendations that we have made in our analysis are based on the best science and evidence that we currently have available."
It is true that a return to these events with proper evidence-based enforced precautions in place is possible in the current environment.
Although the layered approach that Melnyk is advocating for will mitigate the risk of transmitting COVID-19 at corporate functions, she cautioned industry leaders to remain vigilant; although more than half of adults are fully vaccinated in the U.S. and nearly two-thirds of adults have had at least one shot, there are still virus variants spreading.
And although Melnyk said she believes “vaccinations are the best path forward,” Dow says that requiring them at meetings will be “a slippery slope” and “a mistake.”
“No matter what happens, we will get to 60-70% of people vaccinated but won’t get beyond that, and we can’t cut out 30% of the market,” he said.
The Details
U.S. Travel Association
www.ustravel.org
