Although I have always been in favor of Internet-based businesses but there are some markets where face-to-face communication is still (and might always be) the preferred way of starting new projects and meeting costumers. This trend is very common among traditional markets such as insurance, financial consultancy and, interestingly enough, IT.

While this does not imply any inherent disadvantage, the financial aspect of having to travel to meet your potential clients and partners can be detrimental to your flexibility and hence, your chances of closing new deals and engaging in new projects.

While formal business can be done via teleconferencing, it’s the informal business that suffers. And often, that’s how transactions get completed. There’s nothing like having a drink with a potential partner to help build a relationship, for example. I think this is certainly true and something that may have been lost in some companies.

That’s why I wasquite amazed when I was told that British Airways was going to launch the next round of its Face to Face campaign, nicknamed Business Opportunity Grant which basically encourage business travel. I have to admit that I didn’t think it would really be newsworthy at first but when I read more about it, I found that those who entered the account would have a chance to meet with BA’s EVP of the America Simon Talling-Smith at NBTA.

So what’s in a Business Opportunity Grant?  Business Opportunity Grants are BA’s new way of encouraging small to medium-sized businesses to travel. To accomplish that, BA will give 100 grants consisting in 10 free business class tickets to go anywhere in the world. As Simon said at a Conference, “In this campaign, we can use some assets that BA has . . . spare seats.”

But it’s not just free tickets. They’ve also brought in some prizes from partners to add more spice to the Contest. For instnace, BA Cargo will give the winner 5 free container shipments to send anywhere they fly. They are also working with Regus to offer winners a Regus Gold Card which will allow access to any of their business lounges around the world. Canon will provide an all-in-one printer to each winner and some other partners are picking up interest from other partners so the pot could grow.

What’s behing this promotion? Business travel has been down tremendously, as a consequence of the financial turmoil of the last few quarters, and many businesses have started using alternate technologies like teleconferencing more frequently to continue doing business while cutting back on costs. But as discussed above, BA came up with this idea as a way of proving businesses around the globe taste again the benefits of actually traveling and not just sitting in an office wired to the phone or IM. They’ve even done a study with Harvard Business Review (pdf here) to show the importance of being face-to-face.

If you’re a smaller business and want to enter, head to businessgrants.ba.com. The last day to enter is Sept 30. They’ll make you fill out a bunch of stuff on your company and then you have to write essays about why you need this and what you’re planning to do with it. A group of business leaders from around Europe and North America will act as the advisory panel for this, and 100 businesses will win a grant. Who knows? You might get a chance to start doing business around the globe, meeting your clients, instead of writing to them.