In the fourth installment of its coronavirus poll, 96 per cent of GBTA members said they have cancelled and/or suspended all or most international business travel regardless of location. Furthermore, four in five said they have done the same for all or most domestic business trips (including 81 per cent of those based in Europe and 84 per cent in the US).

Business travel has seen a drop all over the world

Countries in Asia continue to be no-go areas, with members saying they’ve stopped travel to China (99 per cent), Taiwan (98 per cent) and other countries such as Japan, South Korea and Malaysia (97 per cent).
However, with the virus now spreading rapidly in Europe, 96 per cent said they had cancelled trips to and within Europe, followed by the Middle East and Africa (95 per cent), Latin America (92 per cent), Canada (89 per cent) and the US (85 per cent).
But the cancellations do not seem to be a blanket company policy for all members; only 41 per cent said their company had banned all business travel, while 53 per cent said the suspension applied to non-essential trips but allows some essential travel.
Regardless, survey participants estimated around 89 per cent of business trips have been cancelled – double the estimate from the 10 March poll, when only 43 per cent said they had seen cancellations.
Almost all respondents said they have cancelled (95 per cent) or postponed (92 per cent) meetings, conference, or events due to the outbreak, and only 31 per cent said these functions have been moved to other locations.
Seven in ten members said their company has instituted new business travel policies pertaining to trip approval – an increase of 15 percentage points since the last survey. The same number said they had updated traveller safety policies.
Confidence for recovery following the pandemic seems to be high, with more than half of the polled saying they expect travel to resume within the next three (40 per cent) or six (17 per cent) months. However, 40 per cent said they can’t put an estimate on when people will start travelling again.
The virus’s financial toll was also apparent in the survey, with seven in ten GBTA members describing the impact as “significant” and 94 per cent of suppliers saying the same.
GBTA COO and executive director Scott Solombrino commented: “The coronavirus is having a devastating effect on the global business travel industry the likes of which we have never seen. We urge [the US] Congress to come together and pass a financial package that will help the industry survive in these unprecedented times. The business travel industry is directly or indirectly responsible for seven in ten jobs throughout the world. It is imperative that Congress pass a responsible bill as soon as possible to save the industry before its fate is sealed.”
The GBTA has put its name to several appeals from airlines, hotels and travel agencies for the US government to provide financial relief for the industry.