What's "essential" business travel? The corporate travel profession has always struggled with this and the answers have changed over time. Some organizations traditionally defined it as customer-facing trips. Others saw it more narrowly as revenue-generating. Or, more practically, it could have meant travel required to do the job. Think product installation and repair, and other fieldwork.
Industry pundit Scott Gillespie, who recently left ARC, identified two traveler personas he expects to lead business travel recovery.
"Plumbers," according to Gillespie, "apply physical skills or expertise to location-specific problems." They must . . .