After more than two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Japan is making a big push to return to normalcy by allowing tourist groups into the country, the world’s top tourist destination.

Behind closed borders, Japan’s corporate travel scene has also morphed over the past two years. Digital empowerment, brought on forcibly by COVID-19, is increasingly a part of it, said Kenichi Shiraishi, General Manager, FCM Japan at a FCM Th!nk Singapore event earlier this year.

While many companies in the Asia-Pacific region have pledged their environmental activism over the past few years, the proportion committed to net-zero targets stands at a mere 8%, according to a recent report by South Pole and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an international non-profit organisation that runs the world's environmental disclosure system for companies. 

Over the past two years, the coronavirus upended commercial aviation. Singapore Airlines (SIA) was not spared.

At the FCM Th!nk Singapore event on April 28, 2022, Bryan Koh, the divisional vice president of e-commerce and distribution for Singapore Airlines, shared how the airline had been working to overcome the hurdles, as well as tap into the opportunities, created by the crisis.

Beginning with the revolution in mobile technology taking root way back from pre-pandemic days to now, FCM has always recognised that the era of personalised travel would one day dominate. Over the years, FCM spruced up its corporate travel offerings, creating a range of services to assist business travellers in enjoying less stressful and more productive business travel.

The easing of COVID-19 restrictions and uptake of return to office life is likely to spur more business travel. But when will it resume fully to pre-pandemic days? No one can tell but one thing’s for sure: It has changed for good.

All travel took a big hit during the pandemic. On a corporate level, virtual sessions quickly and seamlessly replaced on-site visits and face-to-face client meetings. But now that borders are gradually reopening after two years of effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, business travel appears to be taking root again.

At FCM’s Th!nk Singapore in April 2022, two months into the lifting of border restrictions for most Asian markets, FCM’s Managing Director for Asia Bertrand Saillet shared his outlook on the state of regional travel. He sees an industry conscientiously striving to make up for lost time, through pivots and adaptations.

We believe it’s imperative to help corporate travellers to get back on the road faster. And we are committed to doing this with our partners without compromising the health and safety of individual travellers.

The first quarter of 2022 signalled the long-awaited restart for the global travel industry. Read now to find out how the world is set to recover.

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