Nearly 45% of survey respondents said travelling for work improves mood and motivates them, while 32% reported working smarter while on the road. Photo Credit: Crowne Plaza Phu Quoc Starbay
Despite the challenges caused by Covid-19, road warriors are eager to
return to the skies, with a recent global survey conducted by IHG
Hotels & Resorts revealing that one in three workers are demotivated
by the lack of business travel, while 40% miss face-to-face meetings.
The survey, which polled 6,000 people in the US, the UK, and
Australia in January, revealed a desire for human connection, since more
than half (51%) of respondents said business travel allows them to
“create meaningful relationships with colleagues, customers, and/or
clients".
Not being able to fly for work has caused nearly 45% to realise that
these business trips in fact improves their mood, motivates them, and
32% even indicating that they work smarter.
A major aspect of the business travel life involves accommodation,
with one in three respondents saying they missed "sleeping in a comfy
hotel bed” most, and one in four indicating “room service" as the hotel
service they missed.
Of those surveyed, 25% usually travel for business one to four times a
year. The pandemic caused close to 60% of respondents to cancel up to
four trips – both leisure and business — in 2020, and as vaccine news
continue to bring hope, more than half of travellers in the poll have
already rebooked cancelled trips or plan to rebook them.
"It’s often said that travel is the only thing you buy that makes you
richer, and our survey results prove that people are hungry for those
rich experiences again," said Rajit Sukumaran, managing director,
Southeast Asia and Korea, IHG Hotels & Resorts.
"But the world has changed, and travel decisions must be made more
thoughtfully. As we look ahead, we’ve all had a lot of time to think
about what travel means to us, what trips are most important, and how we
want to reconnect."