2024–2025 Business Travel Market White Paper: China’s Role in Reimagining Global Mobility

The 2024–2025 period represents not just a recovery but a repositioning of China within the global business travel ecosystem. As the world's second-largest market by spend and arguably the most dynamic in terms of purpose and behaviour, China is setting the pace for a new era of business mobility—one that is strategic, data-informed, experience-led, and increasingly decentralised. These findings are drawn from Trip.com Group’s 2024–2025 Business Travel Market White Paper, which offers a comprehensive analysis of emerging trends and behavioural shifts shaping the next chapter of international travel.

China's Repositioned Dominance in Global Corporate Travel

As of mid-2024, China accounts for 25% of the world’s business travel spending, and a commanding 62% of the Asia-Pacific region’s corporate travel expenditure, reinforcing its leadership across both global and regional mobility. Although the United States slightly leads in absolute spend, China’s business travel has recovered to 98% of pre-pandemic levels, signalling a robust return.

This resurgence is not solely volume-based. It marks a directional evolution towards strategic international expansion, emerging market exploration, and corporate culture development. From policy-driven outbound missions to inbound facilitation for foreign enterprises, the structure of Chinese business travel has become more purposeful and decentralised.

From Transaction to Transformation: Evolving Travel Purposes

The shift in business travel motivations is a defining feature of the 2024 market. Compared to 2023, Chinese businesses are increasingly prioritising training, professional seminars, and exhibitions. These categories have overtaken traditional purposes like client negotiations, suggesting that business travel is now viewed as a lever for competence building, reputation signalling, and ecosystem integration.

Internal organisational meetings across global offices are also on the rise, reflecting how distributed teams and globalised operations now demand physical alignment. Simultaneously, activities like team building and incentive travel, though smaller in scale, are growing—indicating stronger human resource investment.

This behavioural diversification shows that Chinese enterprises are using international travel not only to expand market share but also to build corporate cohesion and strategic knowledge capital.

New Frontiers: Dark Horse Destinations Emerge

While key hubs such as Singapore, Tokyo, and Frankfurt remain active, the standout story in 2024 is the ascent of “dark horse” countries. Top 10 list of emerging outbound destinations for Chinese enterprises, led by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, UAE, and India. These nations are gaining traction due to increasing investment projects, energy cooperation, and supply chain realignments.

This pattern indicates a growing appetite for geopolitical diversification and strategic hedging. Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries are benefiting from their participation in China's Belt and Road Initiative. As these geographies rise, business travel becomes a conduit for diplomatic soft power and infrastructure diplomacy.

The Experience Economy and Traveller Psychology

Beyond corporate motives, the individual traveller's mindset is changing. Gen Z and millennial professionals now see business trips as opportunities to balance productivity with personal enrichment. Younger travellers increasingly prefer trips that allow them to “see more of the world,” expect “knowledge gains,” and strive to balance work with family or lifestyle.

This is further reflected in booking behaviour. International business travellers now overwhelmingly prefer mid-to-high-tier hotels, with 74% choosing 3-4 star accommodation and 20.4% opting for 5-star hotels in 2024. Compared to domestic travel, international business travellers exhibit a +19.2% stronger preference for premium lodging. This data underscores rising expectations around comfort, service quality, and experience design.

Budget Dynamics and Policy Adjustments

Even as cost control remains top of mind, most companies are not reducing travel budgets, they are reallocating them more strategically. In 2024, 59% of firms are maintaining existing travel policy standards for international flights and hotels, while 29% are increasing them. This reflects a broader flight to quality, especially for roles requiring global mobility.

Interestingly, most organisations are not reducing travel budgets but rather restructuring how budgets are allocated. In 2024, 59% of companies are maintaining the same travel policy standards for international flights and hotels, while 29% are increasing standards, suggesting a continued flight to quality, especially for global mobility roles.

Technology Expectations and AI Aspirations

Business travellers are also demanding smarter, more intuitive systems. As Chart 4 illustrates, 80% of travellers expect AI to intelligently recommend itineraries, while nearly 30% hope for automated booking, real-time safety alerts, and intelligent approval workflows.

This indicates a pressing market opportunity: travel management providers must now combine predictive AI, process automation, and traveller-centric UX design to remain competitive. The future of business travel lies in smart orchestration, not just cost-efficient fulfilment.

Inbound Business Travel to China: Rebuilding Confidence

While outbound Chinese corporate travel is surging, inbound flows are also gaining momentum, driven by visa-free access for over 60 countries and supportive national policies. Foreign executives are expanding their reach beyond Tier 1 cities into key manufacturing and logistics hubs. At the traveller level, expectations for seamless payments, multilingual support, and convenient mobility are being met through government-led initiatives like half-day tours and smart ride-hailing services.

Conclusion: A Reimagined Future

International business travel by private Chinese enterprises has surged since 2022, reaching a new peak in 2024, signalling not just recovery, but renewed global ambition. The 2024–2025 period marks China’s repositioning within the global business travel ecosystem. As the world’s second-largest market and one of the most dynamic in purpose and behaviour, China is leading a new era of strategic, data-led, and decentralised mobility. Business travel is no longer a cost centre—it is a growth engine.

For companies operating in or with China, now is the time to recalibrate travel strategies and unlock global opportunity. Connect with us now!