It’s official, we’ve declared 2021 as the beginning of “The Era of Purposeful Travel”, where companies will become more focused on where the true value of business travel lies.
The Era of Purposeful Travel follows a long period of travel volume growth and incremental evolutions in travel and meetings management, brought to a shuddering halt by the chaos created by the virus and associated travel restrictions. The pause in travel volumes and changes to the way organisations operate, provides this unique opportunity to think about travel as an enabler versus a budget line.
We are calling on companies to stop thinking about travel volume as a % of 2019 volume. That’s like doing a drag & drop of 2019 practices into a new era, it’s an outdated practice that won’t help any company succeed in 2021 and beyond. Instead the Purposeful Travel Model enables a smarter conversation that focuses on where being there in-person will expedite or improve the outcome.
The Era of Purposeful Travel is the logical next phase after the Permissible Travel phase, where companies have structured and released travel which is deemed government approved, company approved and employee agreed. Our “Permissible Travel Framework”, created and gifted to the sector in the midst of the crisis, was accessed by over 8,000 companies worldwide and received wide acclaim over the summer months.
The foundation to our Purposeful Travel Model started when we engaged senior buyers in the UK at a face-to-face meeting on 2nd – 3rd November to work through a defined FESTIVE ROAD process called MACROSCOPE “live”. We worked through the process to outline types of travel, their value to organisations and how possible it is to deliver these virtually versus face-to-face. We took a “default to virtual” approach to ensure there’s no bias.
Subsequent work and reflection with travel buyers helped us to finalise our Purposeful Travel Model, downloadable from above. Of course, we recognise the work continues, so if you have any feedback from your review of the model please let us know at hello@festive-road.com.
#BeyondThePause #PurposefulTravel
Caroline Strachan & Paul Tilstone, Managing Partners
We’d like to thank Marriott International for hosting our MACROSCOPE “Live” Event in November 2020. We’d also like to thank all of the global travel managers and industry experts who attended the event. Meeting in-person considerably helped our thinking process and we recognise the necessary planning and thought involved to ensure a safe, collaborative environment.
