The world has moved into an unexpected and unsettling geopolitical phase with many sources citing the world is more uncertain than for many decades. The impact of the global pandemic on the travel industry has accelerated the topic of travel to C-suite of businesses.

The current pandemic has accentuated the requirement for safety and security. However many organisations are faced with how to manage Duty of Care in an environment of change with Data Privacy regulations.

We now enter a period where there is uncertainty about the ‘return to travel’ and timescales that are ever-changing. With legislation in place that holds senior management and C-suite responsible for employee safety and wellbeing; ITM encourages all businesses to have a travel risk strategy in place and here are some suggestions.

1) Implement a travel risk strategy, or review your current scope for gaps.

• Security (crime/civil unrest/terrorism)

• Safety

• Health and wellbeing (illness and mental stress)

• Reputational risk (unethical conduct by employees)

• Legal risk (corporate manslaughter act, UK; data protection regulations; breaching local laws; local tax laws; illegal activity by travelers)

• Financial risk (penalties related to legal risk)

• Data risk (data carried by travelers, laptops etc.)

2) To do so it is important to engage with multiple stakeholders including

• HR

• Risk management

• Security

• Executive

• Legal

• IT

• Travel

3) Engage with third parties to review solutions to match your own company requirements, this will vary significantly from company to company.

• TMC

• Travel risk management companies

• Travel risk management technology provide

4) Review operational requirements to enable risk strategies

• Policy/booking channel leakage

• Profile compliance i.e. ensuring mobile numbers included as mandatory

• Educate your stakeholders and identify senior sponsors to endorse the strategy

• Educate your travellers

• Talk to your TMC to ensure they are clear on your strategies and processes.