Will the ongoing political unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Iran impact oil prices and, by extension, travel costs? Business travelers think so, according to a new survey by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation, the results of which were released yesterday.
Of the 472 corporate travel professionals who participated in the survey, 91 percent are concerned about the impact of rising oil prices on travel costs as a result of the current political crisis in Africa and the Middle East, with nearly half (45 percent) reporting that they are "very" concerned.
In fact, many business travelers already are feeling the effects of global events. According to the survey, one in two travel managers (49 percent) said their company has been negatively impacted by the crisis, and nearly half (47 percent) said employees have experienced travel disruptions, including the need for evacuation. Of these, one in three travel managers (34 percent) have had to support from one to 50 employees facing disruption, while nearly one in 10 (9 percent) have had to support 100 or more employees.
To protect employees, travel managers said they have provided alternative transportation (32 percent) and used the services of an external crisis management company (12 percent).
And speaking of crisis management, the unrest in the Middle East has inspired many companies to update their crisis management plans for corporate travelers. The most important elements of those plans, according to survey respondents, are: emergency contact information (70 percent), worldwide tracking support (66 percent), up-to-date destination and crisis information (59 percent), crisis and evacuation plans (44 percent), and mass mobile communications tools (29 percent).
"The global nature of the business travel industry can inevitably lead to travelers being in dangerous situations," said GBTA Executive Director and COO Mike McCormick. "Travel managers need to have a crisis plan ready to go at a moment's notice to ensure they can help get employees out of frightening situations and return them to safety. It is unwise for travel managers not to have a crisis plan on the books. To that end, GBTA's risk committee is in the midst of developing a new 'best practices' playbook to advise our members in their own crisis scenario planning."
Despite their importance, 11 percent of travel managers admit not being aware of a strategic crisis management plan within their organization.