Welcome back, road warriors: Business travel returns

livemint.com:

Thought you were done traveling for work? Think again. Videoconferencing hasn’t made in-person meetings obsolete. Scattered workforces have in some cases resulted in more trips, not fewer.

Companies are sending employees back on the road again, driving business travel closer to prepandemic levels. Michael Wieder, co-founder and president of Lalo, a baby products company, recently returned from a weeklong trip to Hong Kong and neighboring cities in southern China, meeting with manufacturers and others. He noticed many hotels were full of American businesspeople.

“You saw big teams of people traveling back," he said. Wieder has more travel planned soon to cities such as Toronto and Las Vegas, with another trip to Asia likely in the next two months. Some of the travel is spurred by customers who want to meet in person again or attend trade events or speak at conferences, where in-person attendance is once again the norm.

Many companies got by without business travel during the Covid-19 pandemic, and some industry observers predicted they would permanently adapt. While vacationers flocked back to airports in recent years, big corporations were more reticent, facing the logistical challenges of remote work and economic uncertainty that cut into travel budgets. Airlines and hotels say that is changing.

The banks, tech companies and consultants who are among the travel industry’s most lucrative customers are hitting the road again. Airlines reported big increases in revenues from corporate accounts in the first quarter, with Delta and United both reporting a 14% bump from a year ago. Alaska Air said corporate travel sales rose 22% in the first quarter, back to prepandemic levels, led by tech companies and professional services