Spending on business travel to rise globally
NBTA and Egencia release findings from study
Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 7/28/2009 11:40:13 AM
Growth of business travel in China and Japan will exceed U.S. growth over the next five years, and developing nations like India, Vietnam, Iran and Indonesia will experience significant compound annual growth rates over the same timeframe.
These are just a few of the findings of a new study by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and travel management company Egencia that the two organizations have just released. The study quantifies global business travel spending and projects business travel growth through 2013.
"Developing countries are proving to be fertile business-travel areas," says Rob Greyber, president of Egencia in Bellevue, Wash. "Over the next five years, we'll see countries like India and China grow at rates of 5.3% and 6.5% respectively, versus the U.S. projected growth rate of 0.3%."
The study finds that the North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific regions each represent about 30% of the global business travel market (90% combined), estimated to total $929 billion in 2008. This figure includes both domestic and outbound international travel. The remaining 10% of global activity takes place in Latin America, Emerging Europe and the Middle East and Africa.
The United States represents the largest piece of global business travel spend with $261 billion or 28% of the world total, followed by China at 10% and Japan at 8%.
Despite the U.S. position as the global leader in business travel spend, Asia Pacific is poised for substantial growth over the next five years, while U.S. growth is expected to stagnate. China's spend, at $93.8 billion in 2008, has tripled over the past 10 years and is expected to lead market growth between 2008 and 2013, followed by Japan and South Korea. Measured in terms of the dollar increase in business travel spending, the U.S. is expected to be fourth in terms of growth, just behind India.
The full study, conducted by IHS Global Insight, includes a complete profile of U.S. business travelers, as well as a comprehensive forecast of U.S. and global business travel activity.
See also: Travel buyers lead sessions at 2009 NBTA show
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