Convincing Your Boss to Accept your Business Travel Request

How Can Business Travel Benefit Your Career and Your Company?

As we adjust to a world less dependent on virtual interactions, one trend is becoming clear - business tourism is seeing a revival. The evidence? International travel has seen a substantial uptick recently. Intriguing, isn't it? Now, let's discuss why you might want to consider business travel and how you can effectively communicate this to your superior.

It turns out that companies are acknowledging something important: online meetings, while convenient, cannot fully replace the relationship and collaboration built during face-to-face interactions. In Dubai, the Middle-East, Asia, or Africa, these personal interactions are essential to business success, a factor often missed by companies. So, allow me to guide you through the benefits of business travel and how you might pitch this idea to your boss.

Why Should You Travel for Business?

Business travel isn't just about a different working environment. It's a gateway to a plethora of possibilities that can propel both your career and your organization forward. Whether it's meeting clients or prospects, attending conferences, representing your company at trade shows, or negotiating business partnerships, business tourism opens up new avenues for business, collaboration, and innovation.

The traditional perception of business tourism being strictly work-related is shifting. The growing trend of "Bleisure" - combining business and leisure activities - adds another layer of attractiveness to business travel. Imagine wrapping up a conference and then diving into local cultural experiences - indeed, more than 60% of business trips in 2017 incorporated leisure activities.

How Can Business Travel Benefit Your Career and Your Company?

Business travel is gaining momentum, even in our digital era, and it's primarily due to one key factor: the magic of personal interaction. Trust is the foundation of business relationships, and there's no better way to cultivate it than through face-to-face encounters. Sharing physical space allows for a deeper comprehension of common objectives and challenges, facilitates efficient teamwork, and enables knowledge exchange. It also encourages the birth of innovative ideas that might not emerge in a remote setting.

The advantages of business travel aren't just for the organization. Employees as well derive significant benefits from business trips. In a survey of 1000 US workers, 60% reported that being around colleagues is the most effective learning method. Over half of the respondents aged 16-24 said their best business ideas struck while travelling. In addition, 43% of workers reported feeling less stressed while on a business trip compared to working from home or at the office.

How Can You Convince Your Boss to Approve Your Business Trip?

Here are some pointers on what to say to your boss to justify a business trip:

1. Highlight the Value of Face-to-Face Interactions: Stress the importance of in-person meetings for building stronger business relationships and facilitating effective collaboration.
2. Discuss the Potential for New Business Opportunities: Attending trade shows and conferences in Dubai, or elsewhere, can provide exposure to new markets and prospective partners, which can lead to potential growth for the company.
3. Share Insights on Learnings You Can Get: Discuss the positive impacts of the learning experience you aim for, from attending experts talks, to improving your understanding of the specific competitive landscape in the Middle-East, Asia, or the region you are taregting..
4. Present a Detailed Plan: To alleviate concerns about cost and ROI, provide a comprehensive plan for your trip, including cost estimates, schedule, and expected outcomes.
5. Share a List of Contacts you Plan to Reach to as Part of your Trip: To make it more precise, research list of companies, partners, experts your company is in contact with in the region you're planning to travel to. As well, research the conferences and exhibitions happening in the city, that will give you the opportunity to boost the ROI of your planned trip.
6. Plan Ahead to Reduce your Carbon Emissions while Traveling: Travel, being a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions, plays a crucial role in this. My article here explains the ways you can reduce or offset your travel carbon emissions.

In Conclusion

As business tourism continues to evolve and innovate, employees can look forward to more streamlined travel experiences and opportunities for personal and professional growth.

As best practice, ensure you are ready within a week after you return to share a note to your Boss about the experience and contacts you developed, already preparing for your next business travel. So when the green light for your next business trip comes, you can again focus on reaping the rewards of your journey, both personally and professionally.