For an initial study of the business travel segment, Free Now for Business has done things in a big way: some fifty pages, covering seven key markets and drawing on the expertise of GBTA Europe. It has to be said that this is a time for analysis for all those involved in business travel, in order to understand the profound changes that are shaking up the business travel sector and will probably do so for a long time to come. More than 700 business travellers and nearly 200 travel managers were surveyed in France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Ireland over the course of September.
First observation: taxi/VTC applications are part of the daily life of business travellers, but there is still room for improvement. At France For example, according to the Free Now for Business study, 60 % of mobile professionals use these tools regularly when on the move. What's more traditional" taxis are more often integrated into travel policies (96% at the European level) than VTC (89%). As for the health context, it has - logically - been less of a brake on this use than in the airline sector. In fact, the majority of European business travellers (between 58% and 87%) "always" or "often" use a taxi/VTC application during their business trips.
Another finding of the Free Now for Business study is that micro-mobility remains marginal in business travel. While European business travellers seem to be rather interested in using bicycles or scooters during a business trip (between 31% and 57% depending on the market, and 39% on the French market), the majority of travel policies do not address the subject. And when they do, it is most often (75%) to prohibit their use.
50% of travel managers say their company has changed its mobility policy as a result of the pandemic
Whatever the case, there will obviously be a 'before' and an 'after' Covid-19 for business travellers and travel managers. In fact, across Europe, 50% of travel managers say that their company has changed its mobility policy as a result of the pandemic. Most of them (88%) mention the use of "preferred" ground transport providersThese are monitored to ensure compliance with health and safety standards. Visit data monitoring linked to ground transport journeys, such as the destination or the name of the driver, is also a current priority for travel managers (79%). However, as the authors of the study point out, " data on land transport are much more limited "than in the airline or hotel industries. " If an employee takes a bus, a traditional taxi or a scooter, their company generally does not obtain important information, such as the destination, the name of the driver, the licence number or the time of the journey. This is not the case with VTC journeys, where the application can be used to locate the passenger and access all the data relating to the journey. ".
That said, the quality of the data - and more broadly the " duty of care "For travel managers, this is not the main criterion for choosing taxi and VTC applications. For travel managers, the simplicity reservation (61%), the costs registration, subscription or management (52%) and the waiting time (38%) are still well ahead of the security and the duty to protect (28%) or the passenger tracking and integration with the risk management platform (23%). French business travellers also ranked simplicity (63%), costs (51%) and waiting time (45%).
