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Will Covid-19 mark the end of business travel?

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Nov 2020, 6:19PM
(Photo / Getty)
(Photo / Getty)

Will Covid-19 mark the end of business travel?

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Nov 2020, 6:19PM

Is business travel going to disappear post-Covid?

Bill Gates has predicted that over 50 percent of the world's business travel will disappear.

His argument is in-person meetings are will no longer be "gold standard", and most companies will have a very high threshold for doing business trips.

New Zealand company Serko specialises in travel booking software, with a big focus on business travel. Chief executive Darrin Grafton told Heather du Plesiss-Allan that Gates is wrong. 

He says data has already shown that travel has bounced back by about 80 percent since lockdown ended.

"It's fine if you have connections that you've already established, but if your looking for new relationships, they have to be done face-to-face."

Grafton says that businesses that are not able to fly internationally are spending that money flying people who are working remotely to work together in team exercises.

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