GBTA poll findings: 96% of member companies have cancelled or suspended international business travel

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is seeking financial aid from Congress after reports show that 96% of its member companies have cancelled or suspended all or most international business travel.

Scott Solombrino, COO and Executive Director of GBTA, says that the coronavirus is having a “devastating effect” on the global business travel industry, “the likes of which we have never seen. We urge Congress to come together and pass a financial package that will help the industry survive in these unprecedented times.”

Solombrino adds that the business travel industry is directly or indirectly responsible for seven in 10 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.”

To better understand the virus’ impact on business travel, GBTA conducted its fourth lightning poll among membership from March 18-21. Among the poll’s key findings are:

Business travel has come to a halt across the globe. Companies are cancelling or suspending almost all business travel due to the coronavirus regardless of country or region. GBTA members report their companies have cancelled or suspended “all” or “most” business trips to:

China – 99% cancelled or suspended

Hong Kong – 99% cancelled or suspended

Taiwan – 98% cancelled or suspended

Other Asia-Pacific countries (e.g., Japan, South Korea and Malaysia) – 97% cancelled or suspended

Europe – 96% cancelled or suspended

Middle East/Africa – 95% cancelled or suspended

Latin America – 92% cancelled or suspended

Canada – 89% cancelled or suspended

United States – 85% cancelled or suspended

Almost every GBTA member company (96%) reports they have cancelled and/or suspended all or most international business travel regardless of location. In addition, four in five (82%) report they have cancelled or suspended all or most domestic business trips.

A majority of GBTA members based in the United States (84%) and Europe (81%) report their company has cancelled or suspended all or most domestic business travel.

Many GBTA member companies have instituted blanket cancelation/suspension of business travel regardless of location, duration or purpose. Four in ten (41%) report their company as cancelled or suspended all business travel, while half (53%) report their company has canceled or suspended all non-essential trips but allows some essential travel.

GBTA member companies have undertaken a host of measures to help protect employees including instituting work from home policies (85%), provide updated health and safety information to employees (79%) and developing contingency plans to get work done such as increase teleconferences and video meeting (70%). Other actions taken include limiting the number of people who work in the office (59%) fewer report their company has temporarily closed all but essential departments (26%), closed the office entirely (25%) or moved some employees to new locations (11%).

Almost all GBTA member companies have cancelled (95%) and/or postponed (92%) meetings, conferences or events due to the coronavirus. Fewer (31%) report meetings or events have been moved to other locations. When asked to estimate the percentage of business travel previously booked for March 2020 that has been cancelled, GBTA members estimate approximately 89% of business trips have been canceled. This is double the estimate from the March 10, 2020 GBTA poll, when members estimated 43% of March 2020 business travel was cancelled due to coronavirus.

GBTA members vary in terms of when they expect business travel to resume. Over half expect travel to resume within the next three (40%) or six (17%) months. Four in ten (40%) say they are unsure when travel will resume.

The coronavirus financial toll is severe, with seven in ten (73%) GBTA member companies describing the impact as “significant.” Another one in five (19%) characterize the financial impact as “moderate.”

GBTA supplier members feel the financial impact more strongly, with nine in ten (94%) describing the financial impact of the coronavirus as being “significant” to their company’s revenue.

GBTA member companies continue to alter travel policies due to the coronavirus. Seven in ten (70%) report their company has instituted new policies pertaining to travel approval – an increase of 15 percentage points since the March 10, 2020 GBTA coronavirus poll. In addition, companies continue to modify travel safety and security policies in response to coronavirus with seven in ten (70%) reporting their company has modified traveler safety policies – an increase of eight percentage points from the previous poll.

The potential 2020 monthly revenue loss due to coronavirus for Canada is estimated to be $2 billion, with 89% of companies cancelling/suspending all or most trips to the country.