Two thirds of UK charities and academic institutions are now resuming travel but admit they are nervous about it, according to a study by specialist TMC Diversity Travel.
Its survey of nearly 900 UK organisations in the charity, academic and not-for-profit sectors showed two thirds expect business travel to decline in frequency, with 4% predicting zero business travel taking place in their organisations in the future.
Opinion is split almost 50-50 over whether levels of travel will return to what they were pre-Covid.
The majority (90%) said their organisation had had a ‘rethink’ about travel strategy, with two thirds saying their travel budgets had been reduced and 71% reporting a drop in the numbers of employees allowed to travel.
According to the study, 35% of organisations are comfortable with sending staff on trips while 27% admit to degrees of discomfort about the prospect.
The biggest barriers to travel are the differing levels of quarantine required around the world (81%), travel restrictions in different countries (79%), risk of infection (65%), higher costs (47%) and vaccination requirements (34%).
When asked what kinds of trips they would be sending their staff on, most organisations said face-to-face meetings (73%) and conferences (73%), while 40% said staff would attend networking events and 28% exhibitions.
