All sectors of the business travel are not equal when it comes to health crisis. According to a study published on 1st March by AirPlusthe car rental has done very well over the past year. According to data from the "AirPlus Business Travel Indexand collected in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the French market has been rather buoyant for rental companies. The corporate payment specialist reports a up three points from car rental. This means that 7.6% of business travel bookings went to car rental companies. The same phenomenon was observed on the German and British markets, where the share of car rental reached 9.2 % and 9.8 % respectively. In the UK, this share was doubled.
business travellers avoid taking trains or planes, especially during periods when the pandemic is at its peak
Moreover, the figures published by AirPlus show that this increase corresponds mainly to epidemic peaks. During the first wave, in France, the share of car rental even jumped by 18 points compared with the previous year.
" These figures clearly show that business travellers are avoiding taking the train or plane, especially during periods when the pandemic is at its peak, opting instead for the car to avoid contact with other people and reduce the risk of contagion. "says Oliver Wagner, Chairman of AirPlus.
Surprisingly, some European markets nevertheless favoured theaircraft. This was the case in Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, where business travellers reportedly opted for shorter journey times - compared to the rail in particular - to limit their exposure to the virus. " Instead of booking longer train journeys, business travellers are opting more for air travel, which is faster.says Oliver Wagner. As a result, they spent less time exposed to the potential risk of contracting the disease, especially as airlines use HEPA filters for cabin ventilation and have adopted impressively stringent hygiene standards. "
Nevertheless, according to the Chairman of AirPlus, car rental companies cannot count on a lasting upturn. " If travellers start to cover longer distances again, rail and especially air travel will once again become more important than car hire bookings. "says Oliver Wagner.
