The most recent World Travel Market (WTM) Industry Report has shown that the worldwide travel industry does not see the Coronavirus pandemic as having a major effect on business for the next year. According to WTM Industry Report 2022, of all travel decision makers that took part in the research, only five per cent said that increased COVID infection rates would most likely have an adverse impact on their business in 2023.

“After more than two years of challenging trading conditions, it’s pleasing to see the senior buyers, exhibitors and visitors who took part in our research showing real optimism that the dark days of the COVID pandemic are behind them,” WTM London Exhibition Director, Juliette Losardo, said, commenting on the responses.

On the other hand, 45 per cent of the respondents, including exhibitors and travel trade visitors, said that the cost of living is most likely to affect their business negatively in 2023.

Other concerns among industry executives are the price of petrol (13 per cent), the war in Ukraine (12 per cent), and energy prices (ten per cent). Additionally, around four per cent of the respondents said that they fear that a repeat of the 2022 chaos at airports would most likely have a negative impact on their business next year.

While the fear of COVID is not as high as expected, business travellers are now more concerned about climate change. Employees that work in corporates across Germany, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have said that management has a significant impact when it comes to the fight against climate change.

Of the total number of 2,506 employees that took part in a poll, 77 per cent of them said that their employees should make changes to their travel patterns and also said that they believe that their employees have an important role in their company’s travel policies.