China's business travel market to soar

China will overtake the United States to become the world's largest business travel market in 2015, with mainland business travelers seen to spend 36.5 billion yuan (US$5.88 billion) annually, according to a survey Tuesday.

Business travel expenditure surged above 20 percent annually to 24.5 billion yuan in 2012 and will rise more quickly this year, Tobias Ragge, CEO of Hotel Reservation Service told the Global Corporate Travel Forum in Shanghai.

Meanwhile over 43 percent of corporations on the mainland plan to increase the frequency and budget for domestic business travel this year, according to the survey which was released at the forum.

The bulk, or 80 percent, of the expenditure is spent on flight tickets and hotels, and the rest on entertainment and communications, the survey said, adding that mainland travelers look at hotel loyalty programs when deciding where to stay.

Hong Kong remained the most popular destination for mainland business travelers, followed by Singapore and Thailand. The mainland executives are one of the most frequent travelers in Asia Pacific, making 17 trips on average, a previous survey said.

Shanghai may be a major destination for business travelers who have access to the world's major hotel groups which operate here while the city has flights to 230 destinations globally, Chen Ping, a senior official with the Shanghai Tourism Administration told the forum.

Over 100 corporate executives and travel experts from around the world are attending the forum which ends today.

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