Business travel represents a substantial force in the global economy. Just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, it contributed to more than USD 1.2 trillion, about 25 percent of the travel and tourism sector’s overall economic impact, to the global GDP. Businesses had resumed spending on travel after substantial declines in 2008 and 2009.

A research by Global Business Travel Association Foundation had found that for every one percent change in business travel spending, the US economy typically gains or loses 74,000 jobs, USD 5.5 billion in GDP, USD 3.3 billion in wages and USD 1.3 billion in taxes. The report also stated that personal vehicle (35 percent) was the most popular mode of transportation among US business travellers in 2016, followed by airplane (28 percent) and rental cars (13 percent).

Internal travel encompasses trips taken for intracompany purposes, where employees participate in activities such as training, team building or inspection of field operations. External travel, on the other hand, refers to travel done by employees for engagements outside the company, including in-person meetings with clients and suppliers, trade conferences and customer sales calls.

"Obstacles to business travel, such as cumbersome visa protocols and long flight connections, constrain access to knowhow and limit growth opportunities, especially in developing countries," said Frank Neffke, research director at Harvard Kennedy School’s Growth Lab.

Benefits Of Business Travel

In the past, companies have experienced that, on average, 40 percent of customers would eventually be lost without in-person meetings and support.

Detailed statistical modelling over 18 years and 14 industries indicates that for every dollar invested in business travel, US companies make a USD 9.50 return in terms of revenue. The modelling also found that US business travel has yielded USD 2.90 in profits for every dollar spent.

There is a small segment of employees for whom travel is deemed essential for conducting business. This category accounted for around 15 percent of all corporate travel expenses in 2019 and includes decision makers in manufacturing companies with a wide distribution of factories and plants, and field-operation workers. For some corporate travellers, it is possible to move oversight responsibility to local personnel and/or utilise digital medium. This segment will see their business travel decline. A large segment of business travel is done to cultivate new or important client relationships. This segment will bounce back as soon as Covid-related restrictions are lifted.

A tiny portion of business travel comes from the public sector, professional associations and nonprofits. During the pandemic, many professional associations were able to hold virtual events to replace in-person conferences and will likely be more cautious in their return to travel.

Business Travel Catches The Virus!

Business travel has taken a big hit during the Covid-19 pandemic and its future is still up-in-the-air, waiting for the end of the pandemic and firming up the ‘New Normal’. In 2020, total global business travel expenses contracted by 52 percent, while managed corporate-travel spending in the United States alone plummeted by USD 94 billion (71 percent).

The World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) latest annual research shows that the global travel and tourism sector suffered a loss of almost USD 4.5 trillion to reach USD 4.7 trillion in 2020, with its contribution to GDP dropping by a staggering 49.1 percent compared to 2019. In 2020, sixty-two million jobs were lost, representing a drop of 18.5 percent, leaving just 272 million employed across this sector globally, compared to 334 million in 2019. The threat of job losses persists as many jobs are currently supported by government retention schemes and reduced hours, which could be lost without a full recovery of the travel and tourism sector.

Some business travellers expect to take at least as many business trips in 2022 as they had in the year before the Covid-19 pandemic was declared. While teleconferencing will reduce the need for some business travel, many survey respondents cited the need to meet in-person to rekindle relationships with customers, suppliers and business partners. Another frequent reason cited for the need to travel for business was a job change.

The countries most eager to travel for business once Covid-19 travel restrictions are lifted seem to be China, US and Australia. Of course, the potential increase in Covid cases from the Delta and future variants of the virus may still cause further backsliding on rising confidence levels for resumption of business travel. (TT)

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TyreSafe, UK’s leading tyre safety charity, has entered a new partnership with the Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), uniting two organisations dedicated to cutting road casualties and improving safety across the county. The collaboration will focus on raising awareness of tyre safety among road users in Gloucestershire through shared expertise, resources and opportunities that support broader road safety campaigns and initiatives.

The announcement comes as around 1,000 personal injury road traffic collisions are recorded on Gloucestershire's roads annually. The GRSP aims to halve the number of people killed and seriously injured on county roads between 2022 and 2032. Its recent Road Safety Needs Assessment identified speeding, distraction and impaired driving as key preventable factors in serious collisions, stressing the need for targeted action on high-risk routes and among vulnerable road users.

Gloucestershire's network includes many rural and semi-rural routes alongside busy residential and urban areas. Targeted measures are already underway at collision hotspots, including average speed cameras and lower speed limits on higher-risk routes. Tyre safety is a vital component of this wider approach, as tyres are the only part of a vehicle in direct contact with the road and are critical to braking, steering and control. Correct inflation, sufficient tread and freedom from damage help road users maintain control and reduce avoidable risks.

The partnership will create opportunities for joint campaigns, communications, community engagement and educational activity, ensuring drivers across the county receive clear, practical tyre safety information. It will complement existing education, awareness and enforcement work involving communities, schools, young drivers and other at-risk road users. TyreSafe continues to expand its UK network of road safety partnerships, recognising that reducing deaths and serious injuries requires collaboration across education, enforcement, engineering and safer vehicle use.

Stuart Lovatt, Chairman, TyreSafe, said, “Gloucestershire has a clear ambition to significantly reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on its roads, and the work of the Road Safety Partnership demonstrates the importance of bringing organisations together to achieve that. We’re delighted to be partnering with the Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership and to bring tyre safety into that wider road safety conversation. Tyres are fundamental to vehicle safety, but they can sometimes be overlooked when road users are thinking about the factors that contribute to collisions.

“Making sure tyres are legal, correctly inflated and in good condition is one of the simple things every driver can do to reduce risk. By working alongside established road safety partnerships, we can help make that advice more visible and give drivers practical information they can act on. This partnership is another important step in TyreSafe’s work with road safety organisations across the UK. By sharing expertise, audiences and resources, we can reach more people and make a greater contribution to preventing avoidable deaths and serious injuries.”

Nick Evans, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner and Chair of the Road Safety Partnership for Gloucestershire, said, “Road safety is a shared responsibility, and our ambition to halve the number of people killed and seriously injured on Gloucestershire’s roads requires strong collaboration across our partner organisations. Our recent Road Safety Needs Assessment has given us a clearer understanding of where the risks are and the behaviours that contribute to serious collisions. While speed, distraction and impairment remain important areas of focus, vehicle condition is also an essential part of keeping people safe.

“We are pleased to welcome TyreSafe as a partner and look forward to working together to raise awareness of tyre safety and provide practical information that road users can use. By combining our local knowledge and reach with TyreSafe’s specialist expertise, we have an opportunity to engage more people and support our shared ambition for safer roads across Gloucestershire.”

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Sailun Group secured dual honours at the 2026 Forbes China Best Employers rankings, announced on 20 October, earning recognition as both China Best Employer of the Year and China Best Employer of the Year for Best ESG Practices. The accolades, selected from hundreds of participating enterprises, highlight the tyre maker’s achievements in talent strategy, organisational culture and social responsibility.

The Forbes China Best Employers selection, now in its sixth consecutive year, serves as a key gauge of workplace and employment trends in China. This year’s four-month evaluation assessed organisational effectiveness, digital intelligence and innovation, employee development and corporate social responsibility, reinforcing the ranking’s authority and professionalism.

Sailun has long treated talent as the foundation of sustained innovation and long-term growth, investing systematically in organisational effectiveness and employee development. The company draws talent through its mission to make great tyres, unites staff around trust and respect and enables growth via dual management and professional career pathways, mentoring and hands-on projects. A people-centric governance belief that employees are its greatest concern underpins a comprehensive, multi-tiered support system spanning the entire employee lifecycle, strengthening belonging and fulfilment.

Sustainability sits at the top of Sailun’s governance framework. Guided by its ‘eco+’ strategy and aligned with 14 sustainability goals, the Group is accelerating environmental, social and governance transformation – embedding green and low-carbon principles from research and development through manufacturing and supply chain management, integrating fair employment and talent development across human resources and extending social responsibility to industry partners and local communities. The 2026 selection added an AI practices dimension; Sailun’s ‘AI+’ strategy has moved the tyre industry from isolated pilots to organisation-wide AI enablement, with an intelligent system covering product development, manufacturing, quality control, marketing and customer service.

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Hankook Tire will serve as the official sponsor of the Ballon d'Or for the third consecutive year, continuing its partnership with the prestigious award that honours the best individual performance of the past professional football season and stands as the sport's highest individual accolade. The premium tyre manufacturer's renewed commitment was confirmed ahead of the 2026 ceremony.

The 2026 ceremony, marking the award's 70th anniversary, will be held in London for the first time on 26 October. The event is set to take place at the London Palladium Theatre, where the successors to Aitana Bonmatí and Ousmane Dembélé will be revealed. London's selection as the anniversary venue also honours the first winner, England international Stanley Matthews, who received the award in 1956.

As part of its involvement, Hankook is running a competition offering football fans the chance to win a ticket to attend the ceremony. Participation details and competition conditions are available on a dedicated page of the company's website. The Ballon d'Or was established in 1956 by France Football and has been presented by the publication, part of the L'Équipe Group, in conjunction with UEFA since 2024.

Hankook's sponsorship reflects an internationally oriented strategy of selected partnerships at global, European and national levels, concentrating on motorsport and football platforms with wide reach and strong visibility in key markets. The company aims to expand its brand presence through prestigious sporting events with a global audience while creating touchpoints with fans, customers and business partners worldwide.

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Michelin UK is calling on motorists to check their tyres this October after new research (OnePoll survey of 2,000 UK drivers, conducted in September 2026, commissioned by Michelin) found that half are unsure about some of the most basic elements of tyre safety. The findings arrive as TyreSafe's Tyre Safety Month gets underway and suggest that while drivers recognise vehicle safety matters, knowing what to inspect and how to act when something requires attention remains unclear for many.

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed (24 percent) cannot tell whether their tyres are road legal, and only 53 percent know that the UK's legal minimum tread depth is 1.6 mm. Everyday maintenance also presents difficulties: 19 percent of motorists are not confident about inflating tyres and setting pressures correctly, and 56 percent lack confidence in using a tyre repair kit.

Since tyres are vital to braking, handling and grip, Michelin stresses that knowing how to check and maintain them is essential for the safety of drivers, passengers and other road users. The company is therefore urging drivers to act now and inspect their tyres during Tyre Safety Month rather than waiting for problems to emerge.

Michelin points drivers to four key areas of tyre care. On legality, UK car tyres need at least 1.6 mm of tread across the central three-quarters of the tread around the entire circumference, and drivers should watch for visible damage including cuts, cracks and bulges. On tread depth, regular checks are preferable to waiting for the legal limit; a gauge gives an accurate reading, while a 20 pence coin offers a handy alternative because its rim measures 1.6 mm.

On pressures, Michelin notes that incorrect inflation can affect handling, braking, fuel consumption and tyre wear. Drivers should check when tyres are cold, follow the manufacturer's recommendations, usually in the handbook or on a label inside the vehicle, and use a pressure gauge. On damage, drivers should learn their tyre repair kit before an emergency; many modern vehicles carry a sealant kit instead of a spare wheel, injecting sealant through the valve to temporarily seal certain punctures and restore pressure so the vehicle can reach safety or the nearest tyre professional.

Joe Brammer, Technical Manager, Michelin UK, said, “The findings highlight an opportunity to make tyre safety advice more accessible and help motorists feel better equipped to make informed decisions about their vehicles. By understanding a few key checks and knowing when to seek professional advice, drivers can take a more active role in maintaining their tyres and help to keep themselves and others safe on the road.”

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