That’s a really interesting question!
It seems to me that the current demand may be caused by a backlog of meetings and conferences that have to happen in person, or maybe an initial desire to return to “the norm”. Xenia’s point about impressing clients is also very convincing!
However, overtime that interest is likely to wane, at least to a certain degree.
This is especially so as there are lots of new ways to carry out conferences, site inspections, etc, coinciding with a rise in ESG concerns and a resulting structural decline in business travel. Some companies use drones to visit various locations, others deploy AR technology, and then there are offerings such as the metaverse on the horizon. Due to the costs, other available options, and ESG concerns I think that a shift is happening in the business travel sector towards cutting unnecessary trips, unless perhaps for high-profile client contact.
There has especially been a decrease in travel for internal company meetings – which, notably, constituted around 40% of pre-pandemic corporate travel. IMO in the short to medium term, the industry will have to rely on SMEs, who can’t afford investing in some of the new tech, and higher-end client-facing corporate travel.
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