China's business travel market has huge potential for growth: Report

BEIJING - China's stable economic growth is fueling rapid expansion of its business travel market, creating opportunities for international companies, a report showed.

About 52 percent of business travel managers surveyed by the German travel payment company AirPlus International are optimistic that China's economic activity will drive growth of the business travel market, more than anywhere else in the world.

"The potential for growth in China is tremendous," said Wu Kejian, managing director of AirPlus's China operations.

More than half of travelers and managers surveyed by AirPlus expected business trips to rise in 2018, well above the global average, the report showed.

The company allows businesses to pay for employee travel expenses using a centralized corporate account, reducing paperwork and creating cost efficiencies.

In 2017, AirPlus saw its sales in China surge 20 percent year-on-year to 8.8 billion yuan ($1.37 billion). Currently, China is the company's third largest overseas market.

Wu said that as China's market was still largely untapped, it would likely become the company's largest market outside Germany in 10 years.

According to Wu, government-led initiatives such as opening-up policies and the Belt and Road Initiative created demand for international travel management, where AirPlus has a competitive edge.

At the same time, reforms of State-owned enterprises called for more efficient cost management, which brought the company many such clients.

In the years to come, Wu expects more increases from domestic clients as they become more involved in global business.