More than two in five member companies surveyed this month by the Global Business Travel Association already have restarted nonessential domestic business travel or have set a date for doing so, according to the association.

About 34 percent of the 336 travel buyer and procurement managers surveyed in the poll, taken June 7-12 of GBTA members, indicated that their companies already have resumed nonessential domestic business travel in their country. An additional 9 percent indicated their companies have “decided on or announced a date” to do so, and a large majority indicated that date was within the next three months. 

About 31 percent of buyer respondents indicated their companies “are working to finalize a date but have not decided or announced one yet,” while the remainder said they aren’t sure what will happen or are awaiting more information before making any decisions. 

“Optimism has given way to action, and the gradual support of corporate policies to resume business travel has actually begun,” GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said in a statement. “While this is an important breakthrough, our research says it will take some time for companies to allow as many trips—or even the same kind of travel—as they did before the pandemic.”

As to the mechanics of a return to travel, about 51 percent of buyer respondents indicated that a “cross-department committee or task force” is heading up their company’s efforts to get back on the road. About one-quarter indicated that different departments are involved in different aspects of the return-to-travel process, while 17 percent said a single department, be it travel, procurement, human resources, risk management or another, is leading the effort. 

Meanwhile, 77 percent of buyer respondents indicated their organizations’ employees are at least somewhat willing to travel for business now, continuing a month-over-month rise—albeit at a slower pace this month—along with the growing availability of Covid-19 vaccines. About 58 percent of the buyer respondents to the poll suggested their travelers were “somewhat willing” to travel for business under current conditions, with another 19 percent calling their travelers “very willing.”