Business travelers are taking to the roads and the skies again, but are corporate travel programs and policies keeping up with the way business travel happens now? With corporate travel and in-person meetings increasingly returning, businesses need to be thoughtful about how they’re implementing – or re-implementing – their travel programs, especially when it comes to their ground transportation.

That’s the premise behind a first-ever ground transportation report – “The Corporate Travel Comeback: The Evolution of Ground Transportation and Other Trending Business Travel Topics” – which is based on a quantitative survey of corporate travel managers across the U.S. and Canada. From Uber for Business, Uber’s enterprise arm, and the Global Business Travel Association, the world’s largest association representing the pre-pandemic $1.4 trillion global business travel industry, the report uncovers pressing concerns and considerations from travel managers at some of the world’s biggest companies.

“Corporate travel is on the rise. Uber saw airport rides represent 13% of Mobility Gross Bookings in Q1 2022, growing 166% from the past year,” said Susan Anderson, Global Head of Uber for Business. “As more and more companies shift to in-person and hybrid work flows, it’s important that businesses reimagine their travel programs and policies, so that they’re tailored to this new era of business that we’re operating in. Our hope is that this report’s findings can provide travel managers and others in the business travel space with the insights and data they need in order to roll out seamless and efficient travel programs that outpace the requirements of a changing world.”

The report finds that travel managers emerging from the pandemic are laser-focused on a few key considerations when it comes to evolving business travel programs at their companies: traveler safety, policy compliance, and sustainability. Compared to two years ago, 75% of employers are more focused on traveler safety/well-being, 55% are more focused on sustainability/social responsibility, and 53% are more focused on travel policy compliance/enforcement.