WASHINGTON, DC — Business travel and meetings have been slow to recover from the COVID pandemic — Business travel is much slower than leisure travel, which is already almost back to 2019 levels. Group travel fell 70% in 2021 and is not expected to rebound until 2024. A recent survey of travel managers by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that a third of companies still do not allow employees to travel for business or meetings.
The path to recovery begins with members and the entire industry spreading the word that business events are safe, leaders of the Let’s Meet There Coalition, the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) and the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) said at a recent press conference.
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“Lockdowns and restrictions no longer protect us; vaccinations do,” said Roger Dow, USTA President and CEO. “Ultimately, it will be the business community that will drive the return of business travel and, in doing so, return the economy to greater normalcy.” Dow was joined by Adam Sacks, President of Tourism Economics; John Cordier, CEO and Co-Founder of Epistemix Inc.; Hervé Sedky, President and CEO of Emerald and Chairman of the Board of ECA; and Caryn Seidman-Becker, Co-Founder, President and CEO of CLEAR.
The numbers support Dow’s claim that the risk of contracting COVID-19 is much lower among meeting attendees and business travelers than the general population due to their higher overall vaccination rates. While 65% of all travelers are vaccinated, that number jumps to 72% among business travelers. Add to that the extremely high percentage of college-educated people who have been vaccinated (92%), and the audience you’ll find at a business event is much safer than the general population.
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The solution to getting back to normal is a layered approach of vaccination, testing and masking, the group said. ECA worked with Epistemix on scientific modeling that shows attendees have only a 0.0001% risk of contracting COVID-19 transmission at a professional event with these multiple mitigation strategies in place. To help clients implement vaccination and testing protocols, CLEAR offers a customized approach to testing based on event-specific safety protocols.
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“That’s the key difference between meetings and other forms of travel,” Dow said. “We have the ability to know exactly who’s walking through the door and what their status is.”
Contact Roger Dow at (202) 408-8422 or rdow@ustravel.org; John Cordier at john.cordier@epistemix.com