While it’s no secret that business travel ground close to a halt as the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out roughly two years ago, there has been disagreement on what shape the world of business travel will take as the pandemic continues to subside.

While hotels and airlines have optimistically insisted that corporate travel will eventually return to pre-pandemic levels, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has struck a more cautious note. For better or worse, it now looks like Gates’ prediction is the one that will be more closely borne out.

Even now, business travel isn’t quite ‘back to normal’

In theory, as the vaccine rollout continued, businesspeople should have had the confidence to recommence their former nomadic habits – even if the early indications weren’t exactly fantastic.

According to Deloitte figures shared by Computerworld, the months of April, May and June 2021 saw businesses spend between 85% and 90% less on business travel than they did before the pandemic. Was this simply a sign that many businesspeople were still waiting to receive their vaccines?

Alas, further statistics released since then suggest an alternative culprit. Though business fliers were once responsible for 75% of profits generated by airlines, these same fliers now make up only 12% of these airlines’ passengers, according to one relatively recent revelation.

Businesses went on a major learning journey during the pandemic

This isn’t the kind of journey that would have entailed members of the business getting into a car or booking a flight. Instead, it’s more of a metaphorical journey, where many companies realised just how wasteful their pre-pandemic travel habits really were.

At a New York Times event in November 2020, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates predicted that over 50% of business travel and roughly a third of days worked in offices would disappear for good.

“Now that it’s not the gold standard to say, ‘Yes, you flew all the way over to sit in front of me,’ and that you can do the virtual connection, it will be a very high threshold for actually doing that business trip,” Gates explained in words quoted by Forbes.

Indeed, many employers have realised how effectively an array of technology solutions – including videoconferencing and collaboration tools – can facilitate virtual meetings. These can include meetings with clients – as would be possible with ON24’s online webinar platform, for example.

Keep it green, keep employees keen

Another advantage of sticking with online meetings, a strategy which has now been proven to more than ‘work’, is that it would help organisations to rein in their carbon footprint.

If you are at the helm of a company, you have probably already implemented many eco-friendly measures – like using recyclable materials, adding electric vehicles to your company’s fleet and growing more greenery in any outdoor spaces owned by the business.

Hence, in the future, employees may need to articulate a strong rationale for a business trip before management gives approval for it to happen. All of this would be a positive sign for not only corporate finances but also the planet.