As COVID restrictions continue to lift around the world, work-related business trips are returning – albeit not at the levels seen before the pandemic.
While organizations of all shapes and sizes continue to define their travel policies, it has become increasingly clear that for certain business needs there is no substitute for meeting in person.
After a two-year hiatus on corporate travel, the financial and environmental impact of business trips is under the spotlight now more than ever with a greater emphasis on reporting CO2 emissions and a return on investment on trips.
The trend toward corporates aiming to reduce the impact business travel has on carbon emissions by moving away from short-haul flights and road travel towards greener options such as rail is only set to intensify.
Take Ernst & Young (EY), for example, which has outlined a new green agenda on business travel aimed at substituting rail for air travel, as well as cutting out day trips, reducing the number of people attending meetings and challenging travelers to reconsider trips.
Rail set to underpin a movement towards greener business travel
There should be no doubting the desire for travelers to find more sustainable modes of transport.
Our research shows that demand for business travel via rail is growing, with as many as
59% of business travelers more likely to consider rail
compared to before the pandemic. As many as three-quarters of employees who travel for work indicated that they want to actively reduce their reliance on air travel for business because of the impact it has on the environment.
As the world becomes more attuned to the need to cut emissions, this might be the expected direction of travel. But tellingly, travelers expect their employers to facilitate this modal shift.
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Further research shows
two-thirds (66%) of employees expect their employer to make sustainable travel options available
to them. And the impact of failing to serve employees in the way they demand is ominous.
Seven in 10 employees said businesses that do not offer sustainable business travel set a bad example for future generations. And the knock-on impact is tangible – 20% of 16–24-year-olds would consider leaving their existing employer because of their business travel policy.
Those statistics are brought into even sharper focus when you consider that for employees moving to fully remote work contracts, travel to physical offices for work purposes could feasibly be treated as business travel instead of commuting.
As well as sustainability, there are other factors triggering a demand for rail for business travel.
Convenience is inevitably a driver. Not only do train journeys take travelers directly into city centres, security checks are far faster than at airports, and there is no need to check in luggage. The comfort and wellness of travelers is also increasingly being prioritised by businesses.
We’re seeing companies that have travel policies that only permit economy class air travel allowing travelers to go first class when they travel by rail. Comfort and productivity in transit are undoubtedly becoming greater concerns for employers.
Demand for travel that is greener, more comfortable and better suited to support the way travelers want to work in transit is real. So what’s the problem?
Complexity is holding back the business rail opportunity
The bottom line is that the corporate rail landscape is highly complex and fragmented.
International rail is complicated. More often than not, services often need to be sourced from multiple suppliers, all with different technology standards and specifications. Pulling together the right data and turning it into a compelling offer for travelers is far from straightforward.
The upshot is that it’s unnecessarily complicated for the traveler. All too frequently technology barriers mean they cannot find viable rail options for the journeys they need to take. And if travel management companies (TMCs) and online booking tools (OBTs) are unable to represent rail as a viable option, travelers are forced to find alternatives to rail – regardless of their personal preferences.
The impact of making rail travel easy
Eliminating complexity in rail distribution is the route to give travelers easy, one-click access to rail options for their desired journey. People now expect a simple, frictionless online experience for any booking – personal or business – and booking tools are only as good as the data underpinning them. Failure to provide a click, consumer-grade experience will see travel bookers voting with their feet.
Major strides have been taken to simplify rail travel by pulling data into one “single source of truth.”
That might sound like tech jargon, but it’s the traveler that feels the benefit. Industry collaboration and open APIs make it possible to aggregate this highly fragmented and proprietary data into one place. That means TMCs and OBTs can deliver their customers with global rail content, providing easy access to routes, fares and journey times from carriers in multiple markets.
As an industry, it means we can provide a compelling traveler experience and make taking the train becomes a more viable option.
But more needs to be done to make this level of rail content availability standard.
As an industry, we must be prepared to take a different approach if we are to capitalize on the opportunity ahead by ensuring travelers have easy access to rail options. It will require the private sector to play a critical role in innovating in IT, data and modern payments. It will hinge on an open approach to rail distribution designed to eradicate the complexities that threaten to stymy the growth of business rail.
But everyone benefits when barriers are broken down – and most importantly, the planet does too.
Championing the sustainable impact of rail travel is worth little if, as an industry, we are unable to convert demand into completed journeys. Not only to individuals and businesses lose out, but the rail industry as a whole jeopardizes its ability to capitalize on a unique growth opportunity.
By working together to simplify rail, we have an enormous opportunity ahead.