Categories: Travel

Business travel expenditure in India estimated at USD 38.2 billion in 2024, ET TravelWorld

FCM Travel India, leading global corporate travel management company, hosted its inaugural FCM Corporate Travel Summit in Mumbai in collaboration with the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). The summit brought together over 150 industry professionals and decision-makers to explore the latest trends and innovations shaping India’s business travel landscape.

The event featured insightful sessions covering a wide range of topics including business travel trends, technological advancements, meetings and events, and sustainability initiatives. With India emerging as the 9th largest travel market globally for business travel spending, representing 5.7 per cent of the Asia Pacific region’s spending, the summit underscored the country’s growing significance in the corporate travel sector.

On the ocassion, Sunny Sodhi, Managing Director, FCM Travel India, highlighted the robust growth trajectory of India’s business travel spending. “India is the 9th largest travel market in the world for business travel spending. It is the 4th largest market for the Asia Pacific region, representing 5.7 per cent of business travel spending in the region. In 2023, India’s business travel spending grew 24.7 per cent and we anticipate an 18.3 per cent increase in spending in 2024.”

Manpreet Bindra, FCM Meetings & Events Leader, Asia, emphasised the evolving trends in the meetings and events industry, highlighting the adoption of technology-enabled events and a rising demand for wellness and luxurious experiences among business travelers.

“It is going to be an exceptional year for the meetings and events industry. Technology-enabled events are here to stay, and we use artificial intelligence and virtual reality to enhance and elevate guest experiences. We have also seen a strong demand for wellness, well-being, and even luxurious experiences,” he said.

Under both mild and severe scenarios, it is projected that by the end of 2024, South Asia will attract 25 million and 60 million visitors, respectively. On the other end, India’s attractiveness to tourists is expected to improve by 2026. Prof Haiyan Song, Research Head at PATA, and Dean of Hospitality and Tourism at Hong Kong Polytechnic University shares more insights.

Bertrand Saillet, Managing Director, FCM Travel Asia, stressed on the strong performance of the Asia region, with a notable 44 per cent increase in revenue, driven by robust growth in Southeast Asia, India, and the reopening of China. This signals promising growth opportunities for India and Southeast Asia in the coming fiscal year.Catherine Logan, Regional Vice President of EMEA & APAC at GBTA, projected a promising outlook for India’s business travel spending, forecasting a return to pre-pandemic spending levels by 2025 and a potential surpassing of pre-COVID levels by 2027, indicative of the country’s resilience and growth potential in the corporate travel sector.

“India will fully reach pre-2019 spending levels by 2025 and is expected to reach 120 per cent of its pre-COVID business travel spend in 2027,” she added.