Ebola scare has had minimal effect on business travel, survey finds
The Ebola scare that has prompted calls for a travel ban and a quarantine of visitors from West Africa has done little to dampen business travel from the U.S.
Nearly 80% of corporate travel managers surveyed said the Ebola outbreak had either no or little effect on scheduled international travel, and more than 90% said the disease had no or little effect on domestic travel.
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FOR THE RECORD:
Airline food: A Business article in the Dec. 1 Section A said Delta Air Lines tied for first with Virgin America in an annual ranking of most healthful airline food. Delta tied for second with JetBlue, behind Virgin America. —
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The survey of 421 corporate travel managers by the Global Business Travel Assn. was taken Oct. 13 to 15, about the time of news that a Dallas nurse flew on two Frontier Airlines flights before testing positive for the deadly disease. Amber Vinson, 29, contracted Ebola while treating a Liberian man who died of the disease.
Fear among travelers continued to grow last week when Frontier Chief Executive David Siegel said he was told by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Vinson may have had symptoms when she flew from Cleveland to Dallas on Oct. 13 with 131 other passengers.
The Airbus A320 that carried Vinson was cleaned that night, but it flew on five additional flights the next day. Frontier has since moved the plane to Denver for further cleaning, including removal of seat covers and carpeting around Vinson’s seat. The crew of the plane has been put on 21-day paid leave.
“Although Ebola is top of mind across the country, it’s business as usual for most business travelers,” said Michael McCormick, executive director of the trade group for business travel managers.
Still, the Ebola scare has prompted 52% of travel managers who arrange travel to West Africa to restrict travel to that part of the world, the survey found.
Virus may slow business spending growth
Before the Ebola outbreak, spending on business travel was on the rise. Now industry experts wonder whether the deadly disease will put the brakes on growth.
The Global Business Travel Assn. had earlier this month predicted a 6.8% increase in spending on business travel in 2014 compared with last year.
“The continued strong demand in business travel spending is a positive sign for our economy,” McCormick said. “This signals that companies are continuing to put travelers on the road to achieve their business objectives.”
One reason for the higher spending is that travel costs are expected to increase 2.9% this year and 3.5% in 2015, the trade group said.
International business travel has not grown as fast as domestic travel because of a struggling European recovery, a moderating Chinese economy and possible turmoil in Latin America, the group said.
Domestically, the only thing that can derail the surge in business travel spending, the business travel group says, is inflation.
McCormick said it is still too early to gauge whether Ebola will slow spending.
Outbreak sparks interest in travel insurance
Meanwhile, the Ebola scare has sparked new interest in travel insurance policies that pay for treatment and transportation of sick travelers or allow anxious travelers to cancel a trip for no reason.
“We’ve had a lot of calls from travelers concerned because of Ebola,” said Jim Grace, president and chief executive of InsureMyTrip, one of the world’s largest online travel insurance companies.
The calls from anxious U.S. travelers began primarily among those who are planning to travel to Africa, Europe and other far-off destinations, he said. But with news that Ebola has infected two healthcare workers in Texas, Grace said he is getting calls for insurance policies for domestic trips.
“Whenever there is this kind of uncertainty, people want to be in the driver’s seat,” Grace said.
Twitter: @hugomartin
