Where business travel is bouncing back fastest

The percentage of business people planning trips varies between countries. Photo /123rf

The business travel market is showing signs of life, with a global study revealing that nearly half of those surveyed had already begun to travel or would in the next one to three months.

New Zealand respondents are even more confident about travelling, according to the survey done for Flight Centre's business travel arm, FCM Travel Solutions.

In this country, 61 per cent of survey participants have already travelled domestically or expect to travel within one to three months, and 38 per cent expect to start booking international trips within three to six months.

In Asia, 50 per cent of respondents have already begun booking domestic travel and 37 per cent expect to resume international travel in three to six months.

Nick Queale, general manager of Flight Centre Corporate, said there were a trickle of businesspeople still travelling overseas.

He said that business was down to about 3 to 4 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
The top international destinations were the main cities on the Australian eastern seaboard - Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane - followed by Los Angeles, Frankfurt, London and Tokyo.

Domestic travel makes up about two-thirds of FCM's work and in terms of booked travel it was running at about 25 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

Air New Zealand has increased its domestic operation to about 75 per cent of what it was at this time last year. While it still lags the leisure travel comeback, flying by business and government workers was increasing.

Higher yielding corporate passengers are crucial for airline profitability.

Queale said the first question clients asked about hotels was whether they were being used as quarantine or isolation facilities for returnees.

While the increase in new hotel rooms in Auckland and absence of international tourists had alleviated the previous shortage, the continued flow of Kiwis needing isolation could renew pressure on space.

The FCM survey canvassed 1600 business travel managers, bookers and travellers in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas, including about 180 from this country.

Winning new business (43 per cent of respondents) and managing existing client relationships (39 per cent) are the two dominant business activities motivating organisations to return to travel.

While a large portion of respondents indicated a need to revamp travel policy post Covid-19, 28 per cent of respondents were unsure what needed to change. Of those that did indicate areas for travel policy change, "health and hygiene" and "duty of care"
considerations were the two dominant categories.

Leisure travel also on the bounce

Flight Centre has also switched to promoting special leisure deals to Kiwis now that holiday travel overseas remains on hold. Earlier this week it was offering flights and hotel accommodation for three nights from and to a number of destinations starting at $325 per person.

During the school holidays ski-fields have been packed with domestic travellers who have replaced Australians on the slopes.

Flight Centre reports domestic Queenstown flight tickets were up 184 per cent for June, year on year. Queenstown accommodation bookings were up 214 per cent for the same period.

Domestic Rotorua accommodation bookings are up 50 per cent and overall New Zealand domestic land bookings up 42 per cent for the month.

Some South Island ski-fields have seen unprecedented queues and visitors have had to be turned away.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said although it was too early for exact figures, the anecdotal school holiday reports from members were encouraging.

"Many have been pleasantly surprised to find demand for domestic travel exceeding their expectations over the past two weeks."

Air New Zealand has responded to demand by putting on 283 extra flights over the school holiday period. Jetstar is also back operating at a good level.

"The concern now is the sharp decrease in bookings that many are expecting after the holidays," said Roberts.

It's not only hotspots such as Queenstown that have enjoyed the domestic visitors' spinoff these holidays.

Dunedin has had an increase in domestic school holiday visitors. Photo / Gregor Richardson

Enterprise Dunedin City marketing manager Malcolm Anderson said that based on initial feedback from local tourism operators, it appeared that Dunedin had so far fared reasonably well during the school holidays, with many reporting visitor numbers relatively similar to the same period last year and some even experiencing an increase.

Within the mix of visitors, the city was still seeing a small number of international tourists, who have been in the country since lockdown.

Domestically, the "drive" market from across the South Island is particularly strong but demand for air travel from the North Island is also growing. Anderson said that accommodation providers noted that even though room rates are often cheaper when buying direct, New Zealanders are still choosing to book through booking sites which take commissions.

Central Otago is also seeing a lift in domestic numbers. For the first eight days of the holidays, overnight and day visits are both up versus the same period last year, the region's district council says.

"Overall the growth in domestic has helped the region achieve a better than expected result."

Hospitality spending also seemed to be strong, the council says.