A NEW report by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has forecast business travel the world over to continue its upward trajectory for the rest of 2013, with emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil boasting strong growth rates.
For 2013, business travel is expected to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2013, a 5.4 per cent year-on-year increase over 2012, according to the most recent GBTA BTI Outlook – Annual Global Report & Forecast.
Continued expenditure on business travel for the rest of the year will lay the foundation for 8.2 per cent growth in 2014. Looking ahead, business travel spend is projected to notch growth of 7.6 per cent, 7.2 per cent and 7.1 per cent for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Meanwhile, emerging economies are set to reshape the landscape of global business travel over the next five years.
Business travel spend in Asia-Pacific has recorded eight per cent growth annually since 2000 to hit US$393 billion in 2012, in part boosted by China’s strong performance.
China rose from US$32 billion in 2000 to US$196 billion by 2012, and will likely overtake the US as the largest business travel market in the world by 2016. GBTA predicts China will double spend to US$375 billion by 2017.
Another Asian juggernaut, India, overtook Canada to become the 10th largest business travel market in the world last year, with US$22.1 billion spent on business travel. GBTA anticipates that India will grow at a compound rate of 13.5 per cent annually in the next five years (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 10, 2013).
The GBTA BTI Outlook – Annual Global Report & Forecast report, commissioned by Visa, details travel spending in 75 countries.
