More South African business travellers have started travelling into Africa, according to FCM Travel Solutions.
Bonnie Smith, General Manager FCM Travel Solutions revealed that travel to Kenya has picked up again, followed closely by Botswana and Zambia. Mozambique and Ghana have seen a revival when it comes to business travel from South Africa.
“After months of shutdown and remote working, the reopening of borders for business travel is a very welcome development for multinationals and large enterprises. They can now finally embark upon the road to recovery, resume on-site operations and reconnect with their offices around Africa," said Smith.
Travel to other international destinations is believed to take longer to recover. “Although government has reopened the borders to the entire world for business travel, travellers are still reluctant to venture outside Africa.
“It’s one thing for the government to say travel is permitted again and to lift the travel restrictions, but travellers also need to want to go. Airlines need to resume operations and destination countries need to be ready to welcome South African travellers again," she said.
To better understand the prevailing sentiments on business travel conditions as countries emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, FCM Travel Solutions recently launched a global ‘State of the Market’ survey. The results of the survey show that although lifting of border restrictions is an important trigger to resume business travel, the majority of businesses will take a phased approach to resume domestic and international business travel over the next 12 months. Only half of the respondents believe that their business travel volumes will reach pre-coronavirus levels in the near term.
“Working with so many industries during this pandemic has allowed us to formulate thorough travel risk strategies for different sectors. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for companies during these times.
“To help provide direction for companies, FCM has developed a Return to Travel Framework to empower customers to take confident action when it comes to resuming business travel," added Smith.