Chinese business travelers a boon to global tourism

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China's business travel market is expanding rapidly and, along with the broader increase in Chinese overseas travel, is bringing enormous opportunities to global tourism and hotels.

‍AirPlus International, a German travel payment company, said its turnover in China reached over 1 billion euros (1.2 billion US dollars) this month, making China its third largest overseas market as Chinese enterprises were busy around the Singles’ Day online shopping bonanza on November 11.

"China's business travel market, which is the largest in the world, is leading the charge in the global travel management industry," said Lucy Wang, managing director of AirPlus International China.

China has become one of the biggest overseas markets for travel payment facilitator AirPlus International. /VCG Photo

China has been the world’s largest outbound tourism market since 2012. Chinese overseas travelers are forecast to reach 174 million in the next four years, and total annual consumption will be up to 264 billion US dollars.

China overtook the United States as the top business travel market in the world in 2015, according the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

In 2017, Chinese business travel spending is expected to hit 344.6 billion US dollars, up 8.4 percent year-on-year, 51.5 billion dollars more than the estimated US business travel spending, according to the GBTA.

In 2017, Chinese business travel spending is expected to hit 344.6 billion US dollars, up 8.4 percent year on year and 51.5 billion dollars more than estimated US business travel spending, according to the Global Business Travel Association. /VCG Photo

Wang said the fast growth was likely to continue with international trade initiatives such as the Belt and Road.

AirPlus allows businesses to pay for employee travel expenses using a centralized corporate account, reducing paperwork and creating cost efficiencies.

As Chinese companies expand their global footprint, they are also bringing in new technologies such as mobile payment to boost efficiency.

China leads the world in mobile payments for business travel, according to a separate AirPlus study this year.

"These trends create challenges and opportunities for travel management firms, which are striving to create a 'fusion management' model that allows all paperwork and payment to be done in a single mobile app," Wang said.

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