American business travelers may be taking more trips to China soon. Within the next three years, China is expected to surpass the United States at the world's number one business travel destination.
According to research by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), travel spending in China continues to accelerate and its economy is improving, making it likely to be the biggest business travel destination by 2015.
Currently, China is ranked second in terms of business travel spending with a total of $182 billion in 2011. The U.S. is currently first with $250 billion. Japan holds the third position with $65 billion in travel spending and the UK follows behind with $38 billion.
GBTA is predicting that corporate travel spending in China will rise to $202 billion, or 17 percent this year. By 2014, it is expected to rise another 21 percent to $245 billion. They're also forcasting that China's international outbound business travel spending will increase by 27 percent next year and the total amount spent is expected to be enough to surpass the U.S. as it continues to grow.
GBTA's chief operating officer said, "With China on a robust upward trajectory in business travel spending, they are quickly becoming a world leader in the business travel market.
"China's phenomenal economic growth over the last decade has been mirrored in business travel which is now a key contributor to, and benefactor from, the country's expansion.
"We forecast significant increases in business travel by Chinese citizens over the next two years with at least two-thirds of the growth being real increases in trips and spending as opposed to rising travel prices. This should also be accompanied by GDP growth rates of 8-9 percent a year."
In order to meet the rapidly rising demand for business in China, the country has been working on providing more hotels and expanding their airports.
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