For America’s road warriors, every newly scheduled sales call or convention registration holds out the promise of a reversion to familiarity after a chaotic year.
“The events that I ran in person over the past year, I was definitely not myself," Mann said. "I wasn't firing on all cylinders. I was worried. I carried around hand sanitizer and I had multiple masks and washed my hands all the time." Suzanne Neufang, CEO of the Global Business Travel Association, said the summer vacations that are being booked and trips being taken now are opening the door for the resumption of business trips. “Leisure travel is impacting the comfort level of business travelers. Many are starting to open up now,” she said.
Employers are still treading lightly around the willingness of workers to hit the road, according to data from job site ZipRecruiter: In 2019, the number of job ads stipulating “travel required” hovered between 53 and 57 per 10,000 — in 2020, that plunged to 28. This year, it fell further, all the way down to 20.
“I’m hearing some smaller ‘return to base’ meetings are happening with these digital nomads — that’s a new kind of travel in business,” Neufang said.