The return of business travel is reminiscent of the 1970s golden era of flying, with travellers full of excitement, according to Corporate Traveller Global Managing Director Tom Walley.
Tom Walley has just completed his first overseas corporate trip in three years and says that the excitement around business travel was “like a scene from a movie” as confidence continues to grow.
“When you think of planes, you think of people putting their headphones on and keeping to themselves, but this was completely different, everyone wanted to chat.
Mr Walley said the ‘new normal’ of travel meant there were extra pre-departure steps, but if you had a travel consultant on your side, it could be navigated ahead of time.
“Some people at the airport didn’t have their documents ready and that held things up, but the flying portion of the trip is as easy as ever, the only difference being the in-flight mask requirement.
“I would advise you to be well prepared in advance and arrive a bit earlier than you normally would at the airport, but aside from that, flying is as you remember.”
Mr Walley said the overseas trip, his first since becoming Global Managing Director of Corporate Traveller, was a huge success and championed the importance of face-to-face corporate meetings.
“I was able to meet my new team in one trip, we got more done in just two days than we would have in two months in a virtual environment,” he said.
“You forget the small, important nuances of face-to-face, like the side conversations and reading the body language of people.
“You simply can’t replace being physically in the same room as someone, and as business continues to recover, the necessity of corporate travel can’t be underestimated.”
