The pros and cons of the pandemic-driven evolution of business travel 

Lebanon, N.H. – February 22, 2022 – Location-independent work is here to stay, and it’s expanding. A return to pre-pandemic levels of traditional business travel is not going to occur. A third of business travelers (34%) now have a work-remotely schedule and 35% of them will travel more and longer as a result, according to the Winter 2022 Global Rescue Travel Safety and Sentiment survey. At the same time, 75% of business travelers have already traveled domestically for business, 27% internationally, according to the survey. 

“Business travel has changed permanently but that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be less of it, just that it will be different,” said Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue, the leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services.  

Richards says the bar for traveling to a meeting has been raised forever. “Virtual substitution for in-person meetings is here to stay. The pandemic has demonstrated that productive work can be done from almost anywhere and that is leading to people taking advantage of that circumstance,” he said. 

Bleisure travel — a portmanteau of business and leisure that refers to a growing trend of business travelers tacking leisure days onto a work-related trip — is also destined to last, particularly among younger employees without children.

Nine-out-of-10 (93.42%) travelers are “less or much less” concerned about travel since the height of the pandemic. Growing traveler confidence will drive more remote work and bleisure behavior. 

“The prospect of working from anywhere under more flexible attendance policies is going to give many staffers the ability to live and work in places they couldn’t before. This will be good for the economies of many semi-rural communities, but it could be troublesome for cities,” Richards said. 

The biggest challenge in this evolving environment will be the ability to manage a location-independent workforce. “Managing the remote workforce will be a new challenge as unprecedented numbers of employees log in from the beach, mountains and other places where they’ve chosen to live,” he said. 

Employers need to make certain their duty of care legal requirements are comprehensively detailed.  

“Company leaders like CEOs, chief security officers, travel managers and human resources directors are accountable for the development and oversight of policies, programs and logistics that protect traveling staff. They carry a duty of care responsibility to their people, to take care of them and avoid exposing them to any unnecessary or undue risk,” Richards said.  

About the Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey

Global Rescue, the leading travel risk and crisis response provider, conducted a survey of more than 1,400 of its current and former members between January 25-29, 2022. The respondents exposed a significant rebound in travel confidence and travel abroad activity as well as critical preferences for remote, outdoor destinations and travel protection services.    

About Global Rescue  

Global Rescue is the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.  

Contact: Bill McIntyre at bmcintyre@globalrescue.com or 202.560.1195 (phone/text) for interviews or more information.