Asia-Pacific corporate travel to surge

Asia-Pacific corporate travel to surge

Corporate travel in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to make up a third of the global market by 2007, with China, Japan and India leading the way, a travel specialist said in a published report on Saturday.

The worldwide market is forecast to be worth 870 billion U.S. dollars within two years, according to Carlson Wagonlit Travel, which helps companies manage their corporate travel expenditures.

Air traffic in the Asia-Pacific area produced revenue of US$28 billion and was about 19 percent of global traffic in 2003, with Japan, Australia, China and Hong Kong the top markets.

The Chinese corporate air travel market hit about $4.8 billion, nearly 60 percent of the total air transport market in the country, according to the firms' findings, published in The Business Times.

"The business travel market is definitely growing, and it is growing more complex," Hubert Joly, Carlson's chief executive, was quoted as saying.

It will be fueled in the region by "fast economic growth" and will be "accelerated by a growing trend toward consolidation and outsourcing", Joly added.

Although several airlines have suspended some of their flights because of fewer tourists arriving in tsunami-hit areas, Joly said that corporate travel should otherwise be unaffected.

"Indications so far are that economic growth in the region will not materially suffer overall," Joly said. "The business travel market will not be greatly impacted. -- DPA