As part of their jobs, business-event organizers hit the road, a lot. Three quarters of respondents to a 2018 Convene survey travel for work a minimum of every other month; of them, 21 percent said business travel takes them away from home twice a month.
Like most road warriors, event professionals take the headaches that come with travel — long security lines, delayed/canceled flights, dealing with other passengers — in stride, although those things taken together make up their chief complaint. On balance, however, having the opportunity to experience new places and meet new people makes travel worth the hassle.
Here’s what else they had to say, from where they’re going to how they spend their time while getting there.
Almost half of respondents’ business travel is for on-site events. Meetings industry events take up 14 percent of overall travel.
As for the downside of travel, stressful airplane travel was the most-cited complaint, followed by a lack of control over schedule and diet.
Of those who said they like to travel, it was mostly because it gives them the opportunity to experience new places and meet new people.
Most travelers took advantage of their time on flights to watch in-flight entertainment and catch up on reading for pleasure. Half are able to regularly make time to explore the destinations they travel to for work for pleasure, with or without adding extra days to the trip.
This survey was conducted by Lewis&Clark, lewisclarkinc.com, and sponsored by Destinations International’s empowerMINT.com. All material © 2018 by PCMA. This survey, conducted in late 2017, had more than 250 respondents.