Business travelers will face reduced airline schedules, fewer options for hotel rooms and higher prices. Border closures and lockdowns around the world will slow international travel. And there is still much uncertainty regarding the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

“Traveling amid a constantly changing environment will continue to challenge even the most experienced road warriors,” said Michael Boult, president of Travel Leaders Corporate. “Travelers will place a premium on the expertise of seasoned travel consultants to help them plan, execute and navigate through each business trip. This is especially true for international travel, where regulations evolve on an almost dynamic basis.”

Despite those challenges, Boult said, “Getting business travelers back on the road is critical for both company health and economic prosperity.”

Here are some of the Travel Leaders Corporate insights for 2022:

• Consolidation is coming for travel management companies and travel suppliers. Many of the vulnerable players will fall prey to stronger players or potentially exit the marketplace entirely.
• Inflation caused by ongoing labor shortages will result in higher prices for airline tickets and hotel rooms. All suppliers will seek to recapture lost market share, revenue and profit as they look to a full recovery in 2023.
• With leisure travel returning at a faster pace, airlines are focusing on “fun and sun” markets, leading to fewer flights between predominantly business routes. And with real estate prices at record levels, some hotel owners may be tempted to convert their properties to condominiums.
• Senior-level travelers will make increasing use of VIP services.
• Corporations will move toward implementing employee vaccine mandates, speeding the process of returning workers to physical offices. This is a critical step for business travelers, whose success depends on being willing and able to visit colleagues, clients and potential clients.
• Stricter vaccine requirements are anticipated for non-remote workers, business travelers and office/facility visitors, as well as safety protocols for employees attending physical meetings and events.
• Travel requests and policy compliance will face increased scrutiny as companies continue to closely manage costs. To ensure maximum spend visibility and heightened employee duty of care, employees will no longer have the flexibility to book travel outside of their organization’s preferred vendors.
• Sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will be key drivers in travel policy and the selection of suppliers. Organizations must be prepared to measure their impact on society and the environment.
• Corporations are eager to return to live or hybrid events in 2022. More than three-quarters of event planners say that they will hold their next face-to-face event late in the first quarter of the year.
• Planners still strongly consider face-to-face meetings as vital. Many event sponsors say that their companies value in-person meetings more than before the pandemic.
• Many companies are moving to smaller regional events with less than 200 attendees.
• Planners have found a lack of availability of large meeting venues in the first two quarters of 2022, as many first-tier cities are already booked.
• Uneven rates of COVID cases, border closures, changes in the airline market and potential lockdowns will combine to limit the recovery of international travel in 2022.

As we enter a third year of pandemic disruption, companies have begun to adapt and normalize their activities through virtual meetings and the use of local staff and partners. While international business travel will return, it is possible that some activity will be permanently eliminated.

For more information or to take advantage of Travel Leaders Corporate’s personalized service and cutting-edge corporate business travel solutions that provide a complete travel enrichment experience, email sales@tlcorporate.com or call 844.485.2677.

About Travel Leaders Corporate

Travel Leaders Corporate is an innovative business travel solutions firm with a focus on customized Travel Fulfillment, Meetings Management and Data & Analytics. Travel Leaders Corporate, founded in 2008, is born out of the digital age and shaped around the three technology trends impacting every industry: mobile, data, and the cloud. This enables Travel Leaders Corporate to offer a flexible suite of services customized to a client’s needs. Travel Leaders Corporate is part of Internova Travel Group, which is the highest-ranking American corporate travel management company, according to Business Travel News.