The global business travel sector is forecast to grow 3.7 per cent from its current $1.2 trillion value over the next decade helped by strong growth in emerging markets, a joint Travelport and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report has found.
Released at the WTTC Global Summit in Bangkok, the report shows the top 10 countries with the strongest forecast annual business travel growth include Myanmar (8.7%), Cambodia (7.4%), Rwanda (8.5%), Gabon (8.5%) and Tanzania (7.9%).
The report shows overall growth in Asia-Pacific is expected to rise 6.2 per cent each year to 2027.
In the past five years business travel spending has advanced rapidly in many emerging markets with the DR Congo rising by 32 per cent between 2011-2016, Qatar at 25 per cent, Azerbaijan at 21 per cent, and Mozambique at 19 per cent over the same period.
The report highlights data which shows that eight of the top 20 fastest growing business travel destinations have introduced visa improvements which helps sector growth and economic growth.
The largest Business Travel markets remain the USA, China, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.
The report identifies a number of factors influencing such growth - Countries emerging from conflict such as Sudan, Sri Lanka, Angola and Rwanda feature highly on this list, highlighting the link between peace and economic development.
The report furthermore explores the increasing use of technology supporting travelers and travel companies. Travelport research highlights how business travelers want mobile phone alerts and information about disruptions, flight updates and upgrades. It also draws attention to the need to serve “digitally-connected” millennials and for the industry to deploy data-driven insights to engage customers more effectively.
The CEO of Travelport, Gordon Wilson, said: “Every day we see business travel growing at a significant rate in many emerging markets with technology playing an in increasingly important role in easing the way for those on trips for their work. As an industry we need to continue to invest in the best technologies and infrastructure whilst governments need to be more business-friendly by removing burdensome visa requirements.”
David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC, said: “Travel & Tourism generates USD$7.6 trillion in GDP and supports over 292 million jobs. Business travel is a vital part of the sector, and it is a key catalyst for global growth. It drives the relationships, investments, supply chains and logistics that support international trade flows.”
You can find the full report here