According to Brian Chesky, Co-Founder & CEO of Airbnb, at Skift Global Forum 2022, we are now entering the “golden age of travel,” which has come about for a few main reasons:
Shift in Work & Business
As we’ve all know, the world has undergone a significant shift, both during COVID and since the end of the pandemic. Remote work is king and many companies are integrating this flexibility into their corporate culture. According to recent Gartner research, ”48% of employees will work remotely at least some of the time in the post-pandemic world, compared with 30% before.” Compared to life before COVID, people do not have to be bound to a specific geographic location; for those who can do their work from a laptop, the whole world is now open and available to them, and this changes the way that people live and, as a result, the way they travel.
Shift in Consumer Travel Behavior
Consumer travel behavior changed significantly during COVID. When the world shut down, many Americans still wanted to travel but could only travel within their own “backyard,” often within 200 miles of their homes. This isn’t an exclusively American phenomenon; the same thing happened around the world. This redistribution of tourism expanded the scope of the global tourism industry, giving travelers the opportunity to explore places they would never have thought to travel. Although travelers have started to travel internationally again, the trend of destinations expanding into new, more rural markets will continue over the coming years.
Consumers are Searching for Connection
Video conferencing and other online collaboration tools made it possible for businesses to continue to work, despite lockdown orders. But one thing that these online tools couldn’t replace was the connection that working together, face-to-face, gave employees.
The more screen time that we have – both in work and in our lives – the lonelier we get. All humans need connection; it’s a fundamental part of our psychology and our culture – and that’s where travel comes in. People will always want to leave their houses to go traveling and to connect with others – be it friends, family or work colleagues.
Chesky made it very clear that the outcome that consumers are looking for when considering travel is also very different now: today, travel is “… less about landmarks and less about that business meeting, and more about human connection, whether with companies or relationships.”
All these changes are having a significant impact on corporate travel as well.
As Chesky said, companies are no longer sending employees to sales meetings, as they would have very regularly pre-COVID. Now, the purpose of business travel for companies with remote teams has changed; today and into the future, corporate travel will be about creating relationships and connections, both interdepartmentally and throughout the company. A company’s corporate culture is no longer the amenities their office offers, the work culture and the interpersonal experiences created from working in one central location; today, corporate culture must be cultivated in other ways, such as in-person teambuilding events and activities which bring remote workers together to connect and engage more fully. With the added importance of in-person meetings, having the best hotel/venue possible is of upmost importance because it can help or hinder your team’s overall meeting experience; that’s where technology (like Vindow’s free group accommodation sourcing platform) can help you get the best ROI on your upcoming event.
More than ever before, bringing employees’ remote team together, in-person, creates human connections that will inspire employees, create more engagement and boost employee retention; this is the future of corporate travel. Despite technological developments, our innate human need for connection will always make corporate travel a business imperative today, tomorrow and forever.
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