Egencia reveals top 20 business destinations in 2018

Egencia reveals top 20 business destinations in 2018

New York retains top spot for fourth year Continue reading

New York has retained its top spot as the most popular destination for business travellers for the fourth year in succession according to Egencia demand data.

The US city comes top ahead of London, which last held the top spot in 2014, and Paris completing the top three.

Egencia, Expedia’s corporate travel brand, said Paris has solidified its status as a European business hub, with air travel to the French capital increasing by more than 20% from January to December.

Overall, Asia dominates the rankings with four cities in the top 10 this year, and seven within the top 20, including the re-emergence of South Korean capital Seoul, which had fallen out of the rankings last year.

However Egencia said New York’s dominance is likely to continue as its data shows that business trip flight bookings to New York were nearly 10% higher than bookings to London in 2018.

Shanghai was the fourth most travelled to business travel destination internationally this year. Also in the top 20 are Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo ranking sixth, eighth and ninth respectively, and Beijing (15th), Mumbai (17th) and Seoul (20th).

The Middle East, South America, and North Africa also feature with Dubai in eleventh position, Sao Paulo eighteenth and Casablanca nineteenth.

In North America, Canadian cities performed well, with Toronto in fifth, outranking the likes of San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston. Montreal, Canada’s second largest city by population, was the fourteenth?most ?travelled? to destination for business ?travellers.

Between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2018, total business travel flight bookings increased globally by nearly 110%, Egencia revealed.

During the same period, flight bookings for Paris and New York increased by more than 120% and for London by nearly 80%. Singapore saw the largest increase in flight bookings globally with bookings increasing by nearly 160% over the last five years.

Scott? Chapman, Egencia UK managing director, said: “Over the last few years, New York has become the go-to business travel destination globally, indicating that international business travel is booming.

“In Europe, global travellers are taking more business trips to Paris, which is perfectly in line with President Macron’s drive to position France as a global commercial hub”.

The Egencia data covers flight booking and reservation trends from small, mid-cap and multinational companies in more than 60 countries between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2018.

Egencia’s 20 most?travelled-to destinations:

1. New York
2. London
3. Paris
4. Shanghai
5. Toronto
6. Singapore
7. San Francisco
8. Hong Kong
9. Tokyo
10. Chicago
11. Dubai
12. Mexico City
13. Boston
14. Montreal
15. Beijing
16. Los Angeles
17. Mumbai
18. Sao Paulo
19. Casablanca
20. Seoul