Corporate and business travel will undergo a fundamental transformation

The travel and tourism sector accounts for more than 10% of global GDP and a similar level of global jobs. Business travel makes up a significant portion of that - around one in every five trips is work-related - and had been expected to grow into a USD1.6 trillion industry this year.

A few clouds of uncertainty had been forming in recent years as fears escalated around deep trade wars, but in Europe in particular business travel was booming, with average company travel spend more than trebling during the second half of the last decade. Even the new trend of business plus pleasure - bleisure - really started to mature.

Emergency measures brought in by governments across the world to combat the spread of COVID-19 brought a halt to that; travel and tourism dropped to a standstill and the booming air transport industry was reduced to a skeletal framework of essential services and repatriation flights.

Business travel almost ceased; here the vacuum was largely filled by teleconferencing as employees abandoned offices and worked from home, raising questions of whether the significant inroads it has made will persist.