Business travel spending in China continues to grow

SHANGHAI - Despite a continued slowdown of economic growth in China, company executives have indicated that their travel and entertainment (T&E) budgets have grown year-on-year by 4.79%, according to the 2015 China Business Travel Survey released today by CITS American Express Global Travel.

Forty-five percent of organizations surveyed reported keeping their T&E budget stable year-on-year; however, 43% reported expansion, up from 34% in the 2014 survey; 12% reported a reduction in their T&E budget, down from 17% a year ago.
"Our research indicates companies are increasing their annual T&E budgets, despite the challenging economic environment in China,” said Marco Pellizzer, Vice President of American Express Global Business Travel, Mainland China and Hong Kong .
“Business leaders recognise the importance of travel as a contributor to revenue growth. As conditions get tougher, they seem to be sharpening their focus on driving top-line growth and making more efficient and effective usage of their business travel budgets".
According to the survey, 49% of companies see travel as 'investment' rather than a 'necessary cost', an increase of 11% from two years ago, while 74% reported aligning their travel procurement decisions to their sales and project pipelines.
The distribution of spending between domestic and international travel was basically unchanged, but there was a 6% increase in 'international-only trips' on-year. “The increase in international travel has been a gradual but noticeable trend over the past few years, and is most likely due to the increasingly international outlook and expansion of Chinese companies,” the report says. MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) activities have also increased. www.citsamericanexpress.com (ATI).