While the notions of CSR and sustainable development are at the heart of today's societal debates, and in the field of business travel in particular, the barometer unveiled on Thursday by Expensya and the AFTM raises another undesirable effect of the crisis: the postponement of business trips to private vehicles and their associated costs. "self-driving cars. Based on a detailed - but anonymised - analysis of the expense reports treated by this specialist inexpensethe barometer confirms the obvious fall in airline spendingThe decontamination was not enough to alleviate the situation last year. The fall in relation to the reference year (2019) reached 85% over the March-May period, then 74% between July and September. But the individual land travelemissions, particularly by car, recovered much more vigorously, falling from -76% over the first period to -52%.
Travel policies "turned upside down
" Bad news for the planet This is a paradigm shift for travel managers", says Fabrice Clauzon, Director of Partnerships at Expensya, during the online presentation. And a paradigm shift for travel managers... " There's a paradox here: until now, travel policies did not encourage the use of private vehicles over fairly long distances. "says Michel Dieleman. The AFTM Chairman continues: " We used our private vehicles a lot, being alone in them for health reasons. So there's less car pooling, and a lot more use and rental of vehicles. This has had a major impact on our travel policies, which have been adapted to some extent, because we couldn't do otherwise. But what happens next? "asks Michel Dieleman. The AFTM Chairman hopes that the future will be less fossil-fuel-intensive, with business travellers expected to make greater use of their private vehicles once the crisis is over.
Until now, when we talked about business travel being included in the scope of travel management, we did not include home-to-work journeys.
For the time being, the Expensya-AFTM barometer notes that in the French market " a solid and sustainable recovery in 2021 ". This recovery reached +47% in June compared with the same period in 2020. The upturn in mobility is therefore confirmed, despite the other major trend of recent months: teleworking, " who was probably the star of the year "Fabrice Clauzon. " Covid has been a catalyst for transformation "underlines Michel Dieleman, who adds: " Will it last? Undoubtedly, at least in part. It's a complete game-changer "notes the Chairman of the AFTM. Just before the crisis, teleworking-related expenditure reached an index of 100, but by spring 2020 it was approaching 140. What's more, as Fabrice Clauzon points out, " this trend will continue in 2021, it's sustainable, it's structuring ". So much so that the very notion of travel management could evolve, according to Michel Dieleman: " Until now, when we talked about business travel as part of travel management, we didn't include home-to-work journeys. Now we're realising that these issues will have to be dealt with as a whole. ".
the context in which business travel operates is far from stable, and even far from consensual at present
The future therefore remains uncertain, as Michel Dieleman noted at the end of the presentation: " As things stand, the context in which business travel is evolving is far from stable, and even far from consensual at the moment. Companies are under pressure, travel policies are being abused, and adjustments are being made, with major variations between large groups and SMEs. The recovery will lead to much stricter decisions. ".
