India is the 10th largest market: GBTA
The country is one of the major drivers of business travel growth in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for $38 of every $100 spent globally towards such travel, says Welf J Ebeling, Vice President, OperationsAsia Pacific, Global Business Travel.
India is one of the major drivers of business travel growth in the Asia- Pacific region. It accounts for $38 of every $100 spent globally towards such travel. This was revealed by Welf J Ebeling, Vice President, Operations- Asia Pacific, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). “With weakening exports, India’s international outbound business travel has been volatile in recent years and is expected to gain only 1.1 per cent in 2014. However, an improved positive sentiment among India’s major trading partners, especially China, Europe and the US, might send it soaring to seven per cent (to $2.6 billion) in 2015,” he said. Ebeling was in Delhi to attend the India Travel Symposium, where GBTA hosted senior travel managers, buyers and other decision makers.
According to him, the domestic business travel market is the driving factor for business travel in India. “About 90 per cent of its business travel spend is domestic, propelled by the growth of the middle class and the profusion of business centres in the country. If people are buying, businessmen have to travel to sell,” Ebeling added. Believing that the pitfalls of slow outbound travel can be overcome by focussing on domestic infrastructure, he opined, “The moment exports and international outbound were down in China, they focussed on internal growth. Think about the high-speed rail projects they undertook at that time. This is where India should learn from.”
According to the GBTA, corporate travel spend is expected to grow at 2.1 per cent to $24.9 billion in 2014 (against 10.4 per cent in 2013), representing India’s weakest business travel performance since the economic downturn of 2008. This contradicts the 2013 forecast, which had predicted that the market would grow at 13 per cent till 2017. However, the GBTA is now expecting things to look up in 2015 as there has been an improved outlook for the economy, since the Narendra Modiled BJP government came to power in May. The renewed optimism for pro-business reforms and accelerated infrastructure investment is likely to bring travel spend back on track with an estimated 7.6 per cent growth to $28.8 billion, he affirmed.
GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of GBTA also recently organised the Global Travel Professional ( GTP) Certification in India this year. The certification programme enables the travel executives to get a globally recognised certification. The GTP Certification is designed to raise industry standards, enhance work performance, and recognise individuals who demon- strate core competencies essential to the business travel management discipline, he added.