Aurélien Fleurot, edited by Thibaud Le Meneec 9:35 p.m., August 25, 2021

The coronavirus crisis and the new work habits it induces have profoundly changed the relationship between companies and business travel.

Thursday, Europe 1 looks at the change of habit initiated by a business manager, for whom these trips were commonplace.

DECRYPTION

This is the great fear of actors in the aviation sector, hit hard by the Covid-19 and a crisis that continues to weigh on the horizon of the various companies.

Is the traditional business trip now a thing of the past?

These are the most "profitable" and lucrative passengers for the airlines, not to mention the railway or hotel industry players who benefit from all these trips.

But since the pandemic, work habits have been turned upside down.

Today, business travel spending is only a third of the 2019 level, according to figures from Deloitte. 

"Reduce business travel by 50%"

Guillaume Van Gaver, boss of Link Mobility, a company specializing in mobile telephony and present in 18 countries, has observed an evolution in his travel practices since spring 2020. This is due to new working habits and the growing awareness of the ecological impact of these trips.

"Today, my guideline is to reduce these trips by 50% by considering the ecological and economic aspect", defends the manager.

"I also have an exemplary responsibility as the boss of the company vis-à-vis the rest of the teams."

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Until now, Guillaume Van Gaver has offset his carbon footprint, under the friendly pressure of his children, by financing ecological projects.

Despite everything, the presence on site is sometimes essential.

"Video conferencing does not capture all the signals that an organization can emit," he notes.

"It's very inefficient for strategic thinking and brainstorming. The third thing is that you don't transmit the same level of energy and emotional closeness in videoconferencing compared to traveling."

A travel budget halved for 2022

Airlines are expecting a catch-up effect in the coming weeks, to compensate for long months without travel. However, in many companies, the travel budget for the year 2022 has already been halved.