The travel security landscape has evolved dramatically in recent years, growing increasingly complex and challenging to navigate. Rising extreme weather, geopolitical events, disease threats, social unrest, and shifting crime patterns have all contributed to a new and much more volatile environment.
Meanwhile, business travel has roared back from its post-pandemic slump, with more travelers going to places with more disruptions than ever before. This resurgence has led to increased travel-related expenses, including meals, transportation, and accommodations. Consequently, organizations face the unintended effect of prioritizing travel while potentially compromising their Duty of Care programs.
In this environment, it is crucial to have a trusted Travel Risk Management (TRM) partner who can support travel approval programs that are not cost-prohibitive while balancing risks, costs, and traveler well-being. Together, these factors have created a perfect storm, fueling the rise of advanced TRM strategies to support companies focused on meeting their Duty of Care obligations in this new climate.
Is your company’s TRM policy up to the task?
The Evolution of Duty of Care
Regarding Duty of Care, organizations can no longer wait until something goes wrong on a trip, merely reacting to emergencies as they occur. In today’s environment, businesses must proactively manage known and emerging threats to safeguard travelers.
Duty of Care is both a legal and a moral obligation; this responsibility requires an organization to avoid any reasonably foreseen behaviors or omissions that put employees’ safety at risk. Failing to meet these obligations can lead to legal, reputational, and financial consequences.
It used to be that Duty of Care in corporate travel meant being ready to evacuate individuals from dangerous situations when necessary. But less than one percent of organizations will ever require an evacuation, and this approach is now seen as outdated and far too reactive.
Organizations looking to improve travel risk management practices should consider these strategies:
1) Understand your organization’s tolerance for risk today.
Every company has its tolerance for risk, and it’s critical to understand the level of risk yours is willing to accept in today’s more unpredictable climate. At World Travel Protection, we focus on helping companies better understand their appetite for risk by providing personalized advice based on an individualized travel risk framework that’s relevant for them and for their employees who are traveling.
Factors that may impact an organization’s risk profile include its industry and size, individual traveler profiles, the type of work being done, and the travel destinations – some of which are much more dangerous than others. A software engineer, for example, may face very different risks than a mining engineer based on where they go and what they do at their destination.
Once risks are identified against an organization’s tolerance, best practice frameworks and processes can be implemented to ensure unacceptable risks are removed or reduced and any outstanding risks are manageable. At this point, an organization can operate in fluid environments without being caught off guard.
It’s important to remember that some degree of financial risk can and should be transferred from the business to a reputable insurer. However, Duty of Care cannot be outsourced. How a company manages its legal and moral obligations can significantly impact its financial stability, reputation, and success.
2) Mitigate risk with the help of automation.
Today, effective travel risk management is 99 percent focused on prevention and risk mitigation: assessing risk before a trip, educating travelers, and implementing systems to capture emerging risks in real time. Duty of Care now involves automating much of this to get the correct information to the right people promptly.
Automation entails the utilization of specialized technologies and software to complete specific tasks, such as monitoring emerging threats, identifying which people and assets may be impacted, and communicating with them on how to respond. Many traditional TRM services have been transformed in recent years, thanks to automation, allowing risk managers to increase efficiency, accuracy, and response times dramatically. Services ranging from fraud detection to cybersecurity, medical and security assistance to case management have all benefited from automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has benefited travelers.
Ultimately, these technologies and systems can help organizations understand risks and make better-informed decisions faster. Organizations without mature TRM practices may have some pieces to mitigate risk. Still, they will find it difficult to scale their efforts to manage risk, which means they risk compromising traveler safety.
3) Embrace the power of artificial intelligence.
In addition to automation, AI has revolutionized TRM, which is now being used across the risk management spectrum. Adding AI to automation has allowed travel risk managers to take the practice of TRM to a whole new level.
In particular, AI can help travel risk managers understand emerging threats at key destinations, even those deemed safe. Using AI, experts can efficiently monitor social media, threads, and chat rooms and even identify threats before they hit mainstream news. This gives organizations a critical head start in mitigating the risk.
In the event of a threat, travel risk experts can now communicate with travelers in real time, providing them with the information they need to avoid danger – taking a more secure route to safety, avoiding certain areas, or sheltering in place.
While AI takes automation one step further by allowing machines to perform complex decision-making tasks, it is not a replacement for human judgment. Yes, AI tools can monitor hundreds of sites at once. However, human analysts still need to provide context, verify the relevance of threats, and determine the potential impact on travelers.
The Path Forward for Corporate Travel
In 2025, the message is clear: Organizations of all sizes need to be prepared for the complexities of today’s travel environment. They must understand their Duty of Care obligations for managing the increasing risks associated with travel to ensure the safety of employees.
For those relying on outdated strategies, it’s time to rethink their approach. The travel landscape is evolving and unpredictable. Make sure your company is equipped to meet the challenge.
