GBT survey: Heightened travel safety concerns for business travelers
Sunday, 26 Apr, 2017
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Travel safety is a growing concern among business travelers and travel managers, a global survey has highlighted.
The March poll, commissioned by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), found 56% of corporate buyers noticed a rise in the number of business travelers reporting heightened personal safety concerns in the first three months of the year.
A quarter said they had seen increased requests for security training in the past six months.
In addition, 54% said travelers have expressed growing worry about traveling to the US as changes to visa requirements and immigration policies loom.
"The pace of change and the amount of anxiety in the corporate travel industry has accelerated tremendously over the past three to six months, and it will be critical for companies to stay ahead of the curve if their employees are to remain productive and happy on the road," says Greeley Koch, executive director of ACTE, which was involved in the research.
"Luckily, travel technologies are evolving just as fast – if not faster – and offering executives and planners new tools to address happiness, safety and security."
In response to recent challenges, 87% of buyers report plans to improve safety training, with one third having introduced these changes already, 14% planning to roll out new programs over the next one to two years, and 40% discussing changes internally.
"The modern business traveler is more vocal than ever. They are actively advocating for their own experience, with a clear focus on arming themselves with safety and security information while they are travelling for business," says Evan Konwiser, vice president of Digital Traveler with GBT.
"Checking in with the modern business traveler six months later, we are seeing that the behaviors revealed in the 2016 research are becoming trends that the industry must consider when evaluating their existing policies and programs."
The poll also highlighted concerns about data theft while traveling, with 31% of buyers saying they’ve seen an increase in traveler inquiries about data security over the past three months.
But GBT said few companies seem to have coherent policies in place to address these concerns.
The survey found 58% say employees are permitted to use their personal devices for business communication, 64% say travelers may access public Wi-Fi with their business devices, and 47% allow the use of non-purged laptops and devices while on the road.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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