Survey reveals top causes of business traveller stress

It’s easier than ever before for business travellers to work away from the office but that doesn’t mean it’s any less stressful.

Research by Booking.com has shown that 93 percent of business travellers admit to feeling stressed and anxious when on international trips.

While online booking and digital business tools have made scheduling and managing travel so much easier, getting to your destination remains a headache.

The biggest cause of stress for the 4,500 business travellers quizzed in the survey was fear of missing flights or connections (32 percent).

This was followed by fears over language barriers (26 percent), worries about lost luggage (22 percent) and unease at entering unfamiliar surroundings (21 percent).

Other stresses included the fear of losing important documents, meetings being cancelled and the risk of a smartphone or laptop being lost.

Airport anxiety

The research shows the most stressful part of a trip for most business travellers remains the airport experience. Late, delayed and cancelled flights was a complaint for 47 percent of respondents.

Ripsy Bandourian, Product Development Director for Booking.com, stated:

"While business travel has so many positives, including the opportunity to experience new cultures, broaden horizons and the chance to meet colleagues face-to-face, the logistics of business travel can get in the way.”

When asked what their least favourite aspect of working away from home, more than a third said it was having to leave family and friends.

This was slightly more so for men, 40 percent, than with female business travellers, 34 percent.

One business travel headache that technology has helped to remove is the hassle of handling paper receipts. Webexpenses uses a smartphone app to instantly convert any bills or receipts into a digital form.
You can find out more about webexpenses by taking it for a trial here.