According to the report by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), tourism sector of China is likely to reach a substantial growth of 15% in 2013. The country is also on its way to become the largest business travel market in the world.
There are several reasons why China is expected to become the leader in the business travel market. First of all, in 2012 the country’s economy added 7.8%. Even though the country’s development is slowing down, in 2013 the economy’s growth is expected to be 8.3%, and almost 9% in 2014. China’s government is currently more interested in developing and stimulating domestic investment and demand growth. Consequently, in the period from 2000 to 2012 the growth of total business spending estimated 15.5%, and this figure is expected to grow at a faster pace in 2013 alone the increase will be 15.1%. Therefore, the estimated total sum of business spending in the country is $226 billion for 2013. The forecast of growth of business travel spending for 2014 is 16.9% - that is two times more than the forecasted rate of the US.
As GBTA experts mention, while the global economy keeps struggling with uncertainty, the Chinese government has managed to improve the country’s performance thanks to a series of initiatives targeted at stimulating domestic demand. If the country keeps developing at its current speed, it will become the largest business travel market in the world already in 2015.
Domestic travel is one of key reasons for the rapid development of the country’s travel market. Over the last 2 years, China’s domestic travellers outperformed international visitors. The growth of domestic travel spending is expected to add 15.3% and 16.9% in 2013 and 2014 respectively, while business travel from China has smaller share each year (11.8% in 2011 and 10.8% in 2012).