Business travel will never be the same as it was before the pandemic. This idea has been around for several months, but it continues to gain traction. Bloomberg recently conducted a survey of 45 large multinational companies in the US, Europe, and Asia, and 84% responded that they will reduce their travel budgets. Most of those surveyed will reduce their budgets by between 20% and 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels. The accessibility and efficiency of virtual tools, the opportunity to reduce costs, and the goal of reducing their companies' carbon footprints are the main reasons for this reduction.

According to the Global Business Travel Association, corporate travel spending could fall from a pre-pandemic peak reached in 2019 of US$1.43 trillion to US$1.24 trillion in 2024.

This is very bad news for airlines, which generate two-thirds of their profits from business travelers, even though they account for only 12% of seats sold, according to a PwC study cited by Bloomberg. It is also a severe blow to the hotel sector, which could see its revenues fall by 18% due to the reduction in business travel.