DiversionsJanuary 14, 2010

Terrorist Scare not Grounding Business Travelers

The attempted bombing of an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight Christmas Day is not putting much of a crimp in business professionals’ travel plans, according to a new survey.

Reported by PLANADVISER Staff

A news release from the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) said 81% of respondents to a poll of travel managers said their firms would not cut back on trips, while 2% said they would cut back on international travel because of security concerns. No respondents reported cutting back on domestic travel, and 16% said they are still deciding how to proceed on the issue.

Roughly the same number of respondents reported the attempted attack raised new concerns about the safety of air travel (43%) as those who said their travel anxiety level remained about the same (42%).

Forty-eight percent said new federal security screening measures put into place after the attack were not overly onerous, while 36% said they made air travel less convenient and comfortable.

“The survey results are right in line with what we’ve seen in the past with attempted attacks and changes in security protocols,” said NBTA President & CEO Craig Banikowski, in the news release. “These incidents prompt a lot of important discussion and analysis, but don’t significantly alter corporate travel patterns, because travel is the lifeblood of so many businesses. The primary actions travel managers are taking right now are engaging in discussions with top-level management and communicating with their companies’ travelers.”

The survey included responses from 152 NBTA members.