The results of the research “Business travel: models for environmental and social sustainability

Sustainability is one of the key words of the present and future: it is often associated with consumption and waste management but how much does it affect the planning of company travel?

The results of the survey conducted by the Research division of Travel for business together with Alma Travel paint a clear picture of the state of the art of Italian companies in the management of green and sustainable travel: on the one hand the awareness of the importance of greater attention to environment, on the other the difficulty of making it concrete in company practices and travel. A dichotomy between intentions and practices that must be overcome so that the world of corporate travel can also be defined as truly sustainable.

Sustainability in the company and business trips

How important do you think it is for a company or organization to be able to identify and communicate its significant impacts on the economy, environment and/or society?

To this question, 78.57% of those interviewed answered very important .

To get into the specifics of our topic, we asked our sample how important the sustainability of business travel is. It turned out that for 57.14% the topic is very important, for 35.71% it is important, and only for 7.14% it is quite important and not at all. The majority of those interviewed therefore care about the sustainability of travel. An excellent starting point, from which we started to concretely explore what the impact of sustainability could be as an objective of corporate travel planning.

The intention of the interviewees towards sustainable solutions is good . When asked if they would be willing to change their travel habits if a more sustainable or green solution were proposed, 75% of those interviewed (3 out of 4) answered yes. The remaining 25% don't know, no one would be against it a priori.

It is important to understand what criteria are used to choose business trips . Although companies say that sustainability in business travel is very important (57.1% of interviewees), when asked which aspects are most relevant when choosing a travel supplier, the quality of service prevails (64.29%) and the price (50%). Attention to sustainability is lower and equal to 25%. Only one in four respondents therefore reasons based on sustainability, but the latter could be the lever for increasing the quality and control of the service.

As for the booking phase, the cost of the trip is still one of the primary selection criteria for a travel reservation . Safety follows with almost 43%. The selection of a trip with low environmental impact is in fourth position with 25%.

In detail:

• • Travel cost 57.14%
  • Security 42.86%
  • Travel times 39.29%
  • Environmental impact of travel 25%
  • This is followed, with reduced percentages, by other criteria such as times and travel provider.

The gap between the contractual selection phase of a supplier (64.29% on the quality parameter) compared to the actual booking phase (57.14% on the travel cost parameter) is accentuated. The safety criterion is stable. In both phases, sustainability is positioned at 25%.

The price of the trip is therefore fundamental. Would respondents be willing to pay more for a travel service if it were more environmentally friendly? They seem to have doubts about whether travel suppliers are truly committed to sustainability. In fact, a very high percentage, 82.14%, declares themselves willing to pay more but in exchange for certain guarantees from the supplier.

One question in the survey focused on what the people involved evaluate before embarking on a business trip. It emerged that 18% carry out a preventive analysis to understand whether to replace the trip with a virtual meeting. 25% focus on business objectives, while still evaluating the risks of the destination. For almost 30%, the trip is only worth it if it is essential. Lack of attention to ecological impacts: corporate business generally prevails.

What do you consider before embarking on a business trip?

• • If the business trip is truly essential 28.57%
  • Destination security 25%
  • The possibility of replacing the trip with a virtual meeting 17.86%
  • No analysis, I only evaluate the 25% business objective
  • Ecological impact less than 5%

60% of companies have not adopted any measures to manage and organize business trips from a sustainable perspective, while 19% produce a periodic report in which they inform travelers of their sustainable footprint.
The same percentage (19%) has introduced guidelines and indications on more virtuous behavior when travelling. 9% have introduced an information program to raise awareness among corporate travellers. Only 8% first selected and subsequently included suppliers who offer a low environmental impact in travel initiatives in a travel program.

However, sustainability is not at the center of companies' travel planning to the point of drafting a Green Travel Policy. Green and sustainable travel is not a current priority (40%); 44% of companies do not have a travel policy with green parameters, not even in the form of an appendix.

The reasons that delay its introduction are 47.83% a question of culture, i.e. the company lacks a culture for managing sustainable travel; for 43.48%, the fear of higher purchase costs; for 30.43%, the lack of incentives, i.e. the traveling staff are not sufficiently involved or incentivized on these issues.

Next, the lack of specific internal skills on the topic of sustainable business travel accounts for 30%; for 13.04% the difficulty in obtaining information from travel service providers; for 12% the difficulty in finding technical-legislative information and specific services.

32% of the sample responded to the specific question that the company does not have a general purchasing policy that favors sustainability. For 28% there is but only for some strategic suppliers. 20% said yes, I don't know the same percentage.

When there is a purchasing policy that also takes into consideration the aspects of sustainability in business travel, this is mainly concentrated in the selection of hotel facilities (35.9%). For other travel services such as air and mobility, the attention is less (18.3%). Only 9.2% for the selection of the TMC travel agency

Do you plan to introduce a sustainable purchasing policy for Travel services in the future?

Good intentions on the part of companies regarding the future objectives of introducing Green travel management practices into purchasing. However, it does not appear to be a priority throughout 2021 and few companies are planning new sustainable purchasing procedures. 47.4% expressed their intention to take action, but underlined that green purchases and practices are not a priority for 2021. 21.1% indicated that these types of objectives are not a priority and the same percentage (21.1%) said replied that he doesn't know. Only 10.5% chose the answer “Yes soon and we are planning”.

To date, few companies (28%) are able to quantify the value of CO2 emissions for business trips with reporting . As many as 60% say they do not do so. The main difficulties in drawing up a report on CO2 emissions on business trips are: for 45.83%, the availability of certain and complete information to carry out the analyses; for 25% of companies, it seems not to be a priority; for 16.67%, the lack of automatic systems to obtain CO2 emissions data for the various travel services; for 8.3%, service providers do not provide relevant data and information; for 4.17%, low trust: they do not completely trust the information they receive.

The survey also finds that to date only 4% offsets CO2 emissions. 45% of respondents are unaware of compensation practices.

When corporate environmental balance sheets are drawn up, there is little evidence for business travel . Furthermore, it is sobering that 58% of respondents declare that they do not know if their company makes them, demonstrating that internal communication is still weak and not very engaging.

In detail. Does your company draw up an environmental balance sheet?

• • I don't know 28%
  • No 48%
  • Yes 24%

In cases where the company draws it up, 58% of those interviewed do not know whether business trips are included in the guidelines and calculation of the Environmental Balance Sheet and 33% answer no. Only the remaining 9% say yes.

There seems to be a certain superficiality in evaluating parameters and requirements regarding the certifications of travel service providers : 48% of those interviewed have heard of certifications that attest to the effective implementation of sustainable behavior by travel suppliers, but has not explored the topic in depth and does not know the details 48%. 28% know them, while 24% do not.

However, 40% of companies surveyed say that having suppliers with relevant certifications is very important (40%) and important (32%). Only for the 1% it doesn't matter at all 1%.

Many believe that ESG certified companies are the most reliable on the market . 40% of respondents say they are aware of ESG certification and hope that one day all their company's suppliers will comply with ESG criteria. 44% have never heard of it.

Alma Travel introduced ESG certification and obtained Rating A. “A concrete demonstration of our commitment to measuring the level of sustainability, but also to confirm our philosophy of constant improvement. ESG, in fact, is not a goal but a path to be followed continuously, and we have undertaken this path for some time now by supporting environmental projects such as Tartalove to safeguard sea turtles, or simply with actions such as changing the electricity supplier with one that would supply us with energy from renewable sources.

“For us, ESG certification is the logical consequence of our responsible choices and we hope to spread ESG thinking to many companies” declared Ricci Riccardo, Business Travel Manager of Alma Travel.

Over 70% of those interviewed declared that the issue of corporate social sustainability is very important. Quite important for 16.3%, not at all important for 12.2%.

Going into detail about which initiatives companies have already put into practice, 60.87% concern workplace well-being, 56.52% safety on business trips, 56.5% hiring staff in difficult conditions, 43.48% collective well-being and 34.78% the well-being of private life. Detach yourself, the actions dedicated to equal opportunities

(17.39%), support for cultural and landscape heritage (17.29%), services dedicated to people with disabilities (8.7%), economic support for employees (4.35%) and urban regeneration (4%).

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Repubblica – Infoparliament