Why Do We Still Travel?
Reading Paul Waadevig's latest article about the travel/hospitality industry attempting to save business trips, I was struck by how we have seen this type of industry self-regulation before. (If you haven't yet read the article, Paul discusses the US Travel Association's "self governance" guidelines in response to the recent government crackdown on corporate travel.) I find it very interesting that businesses wait until they face a crisis to react, and we always get the same reaction -- with the threat of official regulation looming, industries are desperate to police themselves.
Take the MPAA movie rating system, for example. The United States movie industry waited far longer than most other countries to start classifying their content to help people know which films were appropriate for themselves and their children. It wasn't until the late 1960s, after several landmark court cases and pressure from activist groups, that the Motion Picture Association finally responded with a ratings system. Better to control your own actions than to be legislated out of existence. But the question remains: Why must companies wait until they have no choice? Wouldn't it be better to be proactive about doing what's best?
I suppose my point is not so much about the travel industry, but about the companies relying so heavily on corporate travel. It's no secret that travel is expensive... very, very expensive. Why is it, though, that companies have only recently begun to cut travel budgets? Like every other problem, companies wait until there are no other options before doing what could have saved money all along. Seems to me that if you can take care of an important meeting with a 2-hour video conference instead of spending two full days flying to meet in person, that would make a lot of sense. You would get two more days of productivity from those workers and save thousands of dollars.
Sooner or later, the economy is going to start its slow upward climb. I'm no financial guru (in fact, I don't think I'm any kind of guru, except possibly 90s music trivia), but it doesn't seem like an economic recovery is too far off. When that happens, are travel budgets going to expand back to their pre-recession levels? History says yes. I'm saying... why? Start policing yourselves
before the next problem hits -- it will save a lot of headaches.