Let’s meet: business travel on a post-Covid rebound

Domestic business travel is ­almost back to pre-Covid levels as corporate leaders shun Zoom and virtual conferences.

Canadian tourist Madelyn DeGruchy takes a jet-ski spin with Gold Coast Watersports director Kate Forrester on Monday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Domestic business travel is ­almost back to pre-Covid levels as corporate leaders shun Zoom meetings and virtual conferences in favour of face-to-face contact.

Business travel spending in August reached 92 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels as workers and bosses flocked to conferences, seminars, trade fairs and team-building retreats.

Figures released by the federal government’s Tourism Research Australia agency also show domestic tourism spending up by $1.9bn on pre-pandemic levels, including an increase of 64 per cent in Queensland and 51 per cent in South Australia.

Council of Small Business ­Organisations Australia chief executive Alexi Boyd said company leaders had been “very quick” to return to face-to-face events when Covid restrictions eased.

“They recognise the value of networking and the value of people having face-to-face connections again,” she said. “It is so critical for businesses to be able to learn from each other and grow. It also helps all the other small businesses in the events industry.

“Nothing is better than doing things face-to-face. Everyone is sick of seeing floating heads on a screen.”

Co-owner of Gold Coast ­Watersports, Kate Forrester, said the number of inquiries for corporate events has doubled over the past three months.

Business leaders tell her that, after years of working remotely, they hope their staff can bond on the water.

“Everyone wants to enjoy freedom again,” Ms Forrester said. “A lot of national companies are coming together on the coast. They are getting together and bonding out on the water, doing things together and sharing an experience.”

Tourism Minister Don Farrell said it was “fantastic to see businesses moving again to collaborate and build relationships, and exchange ideas”.

 

“I encourage businesses and leisure travellers to travel to take advantage of the opportunities and unique experiences around the country,” Senator Farrell said.

Tourism and Transport Forum Australia chief executive Margy Osmond said there was “pent-up demand” for travel among the business community.

“Even though we are struggling to see numbers of people back into CBD offices, people are still finding the need to connect face-to-face to progress business,” she said. “Internationally, it is not at the levels we would like to see but it is just going to take some time.”

Ms Osmond said she believed there was a growing appetite from companies to hold team-building retreats in regional areas. “There is most definitely a growth in that space, whether you talk to venues or you talk to the consultants who support these kind of events, particularly in the post-Covid space where a lot of businesses are restructuring,” she said.

“You have moved into a whole lot of (new) practices during Covid, some of which are great and will continue, but others which are not so great and you need to restructure and rethink the business. That is usually done best when teams are together to make it happen. I think over the next six to 12 months you are going to see really significant growth for small business style of events that are about reshaping and team building.”

While domestic tourism is up, international arrivals are down by 81 per cent from the year to ­August 2019.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive chair of tourism John Hart said “international business travel is still a fraction of pre-pandemic levels, limited in large part by airline capacity”.