Mindful of mental health

As business travel begins its recovery, duty-of-care is more important than ever

- HANNAH BRANDLER

The physical impacts of the Covid-19 virus are well-known but, by contrast, the mental toll is much more difficult to measure. For business travellers, while it’s certainly good news that travel is returning, it’s a different world with airport disruption, lost luggage, delayed or cancelled flights and complicated paperwork. Considered against a background where the pandemic triggered a 25 per cent increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is hardly surprising that anxieties exacerbated by the danger of the virus, and uncertainty from ever-changing rules and regulations, might cause problems. Here, we explore how travellers can best readjust and recover after a turbulent two years.

Emerging from a crisis

“Mental health and mental resilience are the biggest challenges for an organisation managing the return to travel,” explains Peter Jenkins, general manager – Northern Europe, for health and security company International SOS. We were speaking at the Business Travel Show Europe in June, an annual industry event held at London’s Excel. The face-to-face nature of the event, which attracted more than 2,600 visitors, seemed like a return to normality and its significance wasn’t lost on either of us.

Although Covid-related restrictions were officially lifted in February, large-scale events such as this still feel unfamiliar and remain daunting to some, especially as Covid-19 continues to be a problem in the UK.