Trip.com’s corporate travel arm Trip.Biz released its most reecent Corporate Travel Management Market White Paper.

The report highlights key trends and behaviours in the business travel landscape based on feedback from nearly 2,000 respondents, as well as data from an online survey and face-to-face interviews, and third-party research.

Business travel up in Asia

Like leisure travel, business travel is on the rise. 

Global business travel spending maintained strong growth in the first half of 2023 and is expected to recover to USD 1.5 trillion by 2024, according to a report issued by the Global Business Travel Association.

The APAC region leads in business travel expenditure, with a projected growth of 41.2 percent. 

Specifically, business travel spending in Singapore, Thailand, and New Zealand is expected to grow by more than 75 percent, ranking these countries as the top three in the region. 

Additionally, Japan and South Korea, along with European counterparts Italy and the UK, are also experiencing rapid growth in business travel spending.

China remains largest business travel market

Elsewhere in Asia, China’s resurgence as the world’s largest business travel market is particularly noteworthy. 

Its business travel market recovered at a rate of 39.2 percent in 2023 and is expected to return to 2019 levels by 2024. 

The recovery of its outbound market has been driven by recent visa-free policies, with Southeast Asia emerging as a major destination. 

China is also attracting international travellers, with cities such as Hangzhou and Nanjing gaining prominence as business travel destinations. 

Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou remain among the most popular cities for business travel.