Business travel spend in India to rise by 12% in next 5 years

India ranks among the top 10 business travel markets with a spend of $ 29.6 billion in 2015. This was revealed in a white paper titled ‘Business Travel in India’ Emerging Trends & Opportunities’ released by FCM Travel Solutions along with KPMG. The report also details business travel spending in top 15 countries across multiple sectors over a period of five years. India is all poised to lead this growth and accordingly by 2030 business travel spending in India will have trebled from the present levels. The paper gives a comprehensive glimpse in to where and how business travellers in India are spending. Asia has become the world’s largest business-travel market, and trends suggest India’s significance within APAC will only grow with time. Rakshit Desai, Managing Director, Flight Centre Travel Group – India said, “In order to understand how emerging trends will impact business travel programs in the near future, it is first important to understand the perspective of business travellers today. Consequently for corporates, managing business travel is becoming increasingly complex, with changing traveller preferences, integration with mobile technology, and strategies adopted by travel suppliers. This white paper helps analyze the disruptive changes happening today and forecasts how they will impact managed travel processes, the Indian business traveller experience and their expectations in the near future. It also examines the impact of technology on the way business travellers would purchase products and services, thereby predicting leading trends until 2030. The report identifies six key business travel trends and reveals new travel behaviours of the future – Increasing number of business travellers relying on user generated content and mobile devices. With an increase in online and mobile booking tools and an ever- growing appetite for on-the-go travel management, technology to play a disruptive role in the future.”