Business Travel Trends

When you ask business travelers if their employers care about their safety, they’ll mostly likely tell you that, yes, their employers do care about their safety.

But caring about it isn’t enough. The problem, among other issues and insights uncovered in GBTA Foundation’s most recent research report, is that there aren’t always programs in place to actually ensure that safety.

Access the full report How traveler booking behaviour impacts safety to learn more

It all starts with visibility

An organization needs to know where its people are if it’s going to fullfill its duty of care. But, as the survey points out, more than half of all business travelers in Germany, France and the UK have booked travel outside their corporate booking tool. And, fewer than two in five say their employers have systems in place to capture travel plans. This keeps employers in the dark in regard to traveler whereabouts, itineraries and, on a budgetary level, their total travel spend.

And if you don’t know where they are in an emergency, you can’t reach them, let alone protect them.

What’s the risk?

The GBTA Foundation survey also looks closely at the type of risk services available to travelers—such as emergency assistance hotlines, traveler training, travel advisories and the ability to establish/maintain two-way communication. The numbers tell an equally unsettling story here.

A full third of respondents say their employers do not provide an assistance hotline, which is one of the most basic safety services available. An additional third believe they could have used more specific travel safety training, especially in regard to gender, sexual orientation and religion, as these topics impact safety differently in various parts of the world.

When it comes to keeping employees safe, we’ve all got work to do.

Virtually every risk management function a company performs depends, at least in part, on booking data. This Global Business Travel Association Foundation research report examines that data—or lack thereof—in relation to minimizing risk for employee travellers.

Find out what this means to your business. Read the full research report now.