Interurban business travel amidst COVID-19: insights from a nationwide survey in Japan

Hironobu Adachi and Hironori Kato

Chapter 9 in Research Handbook on Transport and COVID-19, 2025, pp 180-198 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This study conducts an empirical analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on interurban business travel (IBT) utilizing data obtained from an online questionnaire survey. A cohort of 4,700 participants, all employed in Japan, engaged in the survey conducted between 25 and 27 February 2022. The survey encompassed inquiries into various aspects of IBT, including pre-pandemic and pandemic-era trip frequencies, alterations in organizational policies governing employee IBT during the pandemic, anticipated post-pandemic IBT frequencies, respondents’ personal attributes, and organizational affiliations. The survey outcomes reveal a notable reduction in IBT among respondents during the pandemic, with expectations indicating that IBT frequency post-pandemic will not revert to pre-pandemic levels. Binary logit models were employed to examine firms’ tendencies to authorize employees’ IBT, revealing a higher likelihood for large-scale firms to restrict such trips compared to small- and medium-scale counterparts during the pandemic. Regression models concerning changes in IBT frequency suggest that prior experience with video conferences negatively impacted IBT frequency during the pandemic, though the influence of this factor was less discernible in the post-pandemic period. This could suggest a preference among businesspersons accustomed to video conferences for alternative IBT approaches integrating leisure and tourism, as opposed to conventional methods.

Keywords: COVID-19; Interurban business trip; Questionnaire survey; Organizational policy; Video conference; Japan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802208009
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