The study surveyed 1,000 business travelers and decision-makers from four Nordic countries over seven years.

How similar are Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish business travelers? What needs have changed over the past 7 years? Are there differences between decision-makers and business travelers? These are some of the questions we wanted to find out. The survey was conducted by Nordic Bench in 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019 to monitor the development of Nordic business travel trends over a seven-year period. An average of 1,000 people per year responded to the survey, ranging from large to small companies.

The report was compiled in 2020, the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak. The changes in the travel industry due to COVID-19 have resulted in great uncertainty, but the results of this study can provide a benchmark for managing future changes and supporting travelers, businesses and the entire industry on the road to recovery.

”We asked both decision-makers and business travelers to see how business needs and technological developments differ between countries,” says Johan Nordqvist, CEO of Amadeus in Scandinavia. ”We want to share our findings so that businesses and travel agencies are aware of these differences when developing their travel policies to better meet the needs of each country’s unique travelers.”

Key findings from the study: 

• If travelers cannot access all prices in their booking system, they are more likely to rely on other channels to get the flight or hotel they want, leaving Travel Managers with a difficult ”Duty-of-care” dilemma. This trend highlights the importance for companies and travel agencies to have content accessibility when investing in a self-booking tool.
• As airlines diversify their offerings, demand for additional services is increasing among Nordic business travelers, especially those who travel 80 days or more per year. Travel managers may consider giving their frequent travelers access to additional additional services. This can in turn make the traveler feel more appreciated, rested and motivated, and the company can gain a more productive and loyal employee.
• Decision makers and travelers don't always agree on priorities. While business travelers want access to a fully integrated system for their travel booking and expense reporting, decision makers listed this as their lowest priority.

Although the Nordics are sometimes seen as a single market, the survey shows that certain topics such as the labor market and local regulations have a significant impact on the management of business travel. But exactly how different are each country? Click here to read the entire study in English.