China dominates business travel stats
Business travel in Asia Pacific, led by a dominant China, outpaces the rest of the world, according to a newly released travel forecast by the GBTA Foundation – the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association
Overall, the GBTA BTI™ Outlook – Annual Global Report & Forecast expects global business travel spending to hit a record US$1.18 trillion in 2014, which represents 6.9-per-cent growth over the previous year. Driven by infrastructure investments, exports and service development, business travel spending in China has grown from $32 billion in 2000 to $225 billion in 2013, an average of 16.2 per cent each year. By comparison, growth in business travel spending from the US has grown at an annual rate of just 1.1 per cent since 2000.
The report, which details travel spending in 75 countries, along with the top industries, economic factors and characteristics that influence business travel, finds that record high business travel spending is driven by a few dominant markets – namely the US, China and Western Europe. The Global Annual Report & Forecast also shows that spending in the US and Western Europe will grow more slowly compared to Asia. Currently, the Asia Pacific area owns the largest share of the business travel spend market with 38 per cent, followed by North America (21 per cent) and Western Europe (24 per cent). The GBTA expects that by 2018, Asia Pacific will have gained another five per cent in market share, while the US and Western Europe will lose three percent and two percent, respectively.
“This report underscores that China, along with the other BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia and India, are leveraging their business travel expenditures into more economic opportunities,” said GBTA executive director and COO Michael W. McCormick. “We expect to see this shift in business travel spending to continue.”
The report’s other key findings include:
- 89 per cent of total business spending around the world – totalling $984 billion– originated from traffic in Asia Pacific, Western Europe or North America.
- Even accounting for concerns over an economic slowdown in the country, GBTA expects China to surpass the US in business travel spending by 2016.
- Italy and Spain continue to slip in GBTA’s annual rankings of the top 15 countries by travel spend. In contrast, BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – continue to rise in the growth ranking, representing four of the top six countries in terms of business travel spending growth.
Regionally, Asia Pacific is already the largest business travel region in the world, comprising 38 per cent of global business travel. Business travel spending in Asia Pacific totalled $392 billion in 2013 – more than doubling in size since 2000 with an annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent. GBTA expects business travel spending to continue growing at a 10.2 per cent annual pace over the next five years.