The latest market forecast by GBTA Foundation sees China strengthening its position as the world’s biggest business travel market.
The GBTA BTI Outlook – China 2016 H2 expects business travel spending to grow 9.2% to $317.9 billion.
That will be boosted with a 8.4% increase in 2017 to $344.6 billion, GBTA forecasts.
"China accounts for nearly 25 percent of global business travel spending, up dramatically from a 5 percent share in 2000, demonstrating the truly global nature of today’s economy," said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO.
"While the projected growth rates are relatively slow for China, they still represent tremendous growth. We expect longer-term spending growth to continue to moderate until Chinese policymakers can achieve their goal of rebalancing the economy and diverting resources away from investment and towards consumption."
The data shows the gap is widening on the US business travel market with travel spending expected to reach $293.1 billion in the US in 2017.
Domestic travel continues to dominate, accounting for about 95% of business travel spend, GBTA says.
GBTA expects international outbound business spending to rise 8.3% this year but only 2.6% in 2017 due to weaker demand for Chinese exports in North America and Europe.
