Corporate travel sector reaches 70% of turnover in 2019, says association

The corporate travel sector’s turnover reached, until the month of November, BRL 672 million, an amount that represents 70% of that obtained in 2019 (BRL 967 million), a pre-pandemic year.

According to the executive president of Abracorp (Brazilian Association of Corporate Travel Agencies), Gervasio Tenabe, vaccination against Covid-19 “was a fundamental factor in achieving the result”, he said.

One of the areas that most pulled the good performance in November was general domestic travel, which grew 27% compared to the same month in 2019.

Tenabe commented that the pandemic brought some changes in habits among customers, as the virtual environment gained significant space in the corporate segment.

“We realized that the airlift market had a reduction due to the virtual alternatives for holding meetings. But longer trips that took place before the pandemic, those lasting more than two hours, did not stop happening,” he said.

Another highlight was vehicle leasing, which rose 80% in November over the same month in 2020 and 7% compared to November 2019.

international market is a challenge

One segment that is still seen as challenging is international travel. Due to the uncertainty regarding new Covid-19 strains, such as Ômicron, it showed negative results.

Although there is an important growth of 195% in November compared to the same month in 2020, when the stoppage was practically total, the drop compared to November 2019 is 54%.

For Tenabe, the biggest concern is that Ômicron “starts to affect passengers in Brazil and domestic flights,” he said.

The association’s president highlighted that “the recovery of the international market is slow, but it is happening. The expectation is that the balance of the domestic market will also reach the international segment in 2022”.

In domestic travel, the numbers are 104% increase compared to November 2020 and 41% drop compared to the same month of 2019.