A warm welcome to this brand new fortnightly "Bow-Tie Briefing" column where I have such great honour to share some of my personal enthusiastic viewpoints on our beloved corporate travel industry.
Covid-19 is undoubtedly one of the most challenging issues ever in history. It has wrought unprecedented devastating damage on our global economy, particularly to our travel industry. Hence, in this inaugural article, there is no other topic more appropriate than to discuss this one!
With countries in lockdown and border restrictions, it is true that in the coming few months many business travel trips will have to be cancelled or postponed. Nevertheless, green shoots of renewed travel are noticeable and there are a few new travel norms that I would like to elaborate on:
- New quarantine measures
Quarantines will certainly impede but not stop corporate travel. Essential business trips can still continue provided that the traveller is willing to comply to various quarantine measures levied by different governments. On 17-Jun-2020, CTC hosted a Travel Manager Roundtable Discussion in Shanghai with 50 registrations. I was able to travel but only after facing a 14-day mandatory quarantine in a designated quarantine hotel in Pudong. You can read more about my travel experience: Hong Kong to Shanghai in 12 hours - by air. A business travel odyssey.
More and more countries are now relaxing the quarantine measure within a "Travel Bubble". For example, between China and Singapore a limited number of passengers from Singapore and six Chinese cities - Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang - are able to travel between the two countries without a quarantine period. Currently, there is a 14-day quarantine period for travellers from both countries.
- New inter-regional mutual recognition of health QR code
In the short foreseeable future, people will be able to travel between Guangdong Province of China, Macau and Hong Kong within seven days of receiving a valid health QR code without the 14-day quarantine requirement. The health QR code clearance can be obtained through mobile phones after taking the COVID nucleic acid test and receiving a negative result.
They must also declare that they have had no close contact with any diagnosed person and have no travel history 14 days before taking the test. The laboratory will upload the test result to the electronic platform and travellers can get the health QR code in just one working day. When passing through the border check-point, the travellers of the mentioned areas simply need to scan the valid health QR code to pass through the border.
- Rapid COVID nucleic acid test
With the continuous technology advancement and further availability of the test at entry ports, the testing time is likely to be significantly shortened in the future. This will further facilitate border control measures for travellers.
We have strong confidence that corporate travel will come back. Bruce Finch - previous senior director at Autodesk - mentioned in one of our CTC Masterclasses: "There was expectation that once this was over, we would all go right back to where we were".
There is a Chinese proverb: "只要思想不滑坡,办法总比困难多". Translation: "As long as one's spirit is not lost in a landslide, the ways to overcome difficulty always surpass difficulty itself". Let's keep that spirit up!
As a preview, a few more new travel norms will be shared in the next edition of "Bow-Tie Briefing", so stay tuned! ?
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Bow-Tie Briefing shares the views of Benson Tang, a corporate travel thought leader and executive director of the Corporate Travel Community (CTC). Benson's remarkable career in travel started more than 25 years ago and his extensive knowledge of the corporate travel sector has made him a sought-after speaker and lecturer. [/perfectpullquote]