Hong Kong no longer the top destination for business travelers

Singapore beat Hong Kong as Asia’s most popular business travel destination during the first half of the year.

The third annual “Accor Asia-Pacific Business Traveller Research, Singapore” also showed that Singapore was among the top three destinations visited in the first half of 2012 by business travellers from all countries surveyed.

On the other hand, Hong Kong was the favorite among travellers from Mainland China (45%), Thailand (26%) and Australia (16%).

“This year, more travellers are going to Singapore, indicating the strength of the Southeast Asian economies and perhaps, the slowing in North Asian economies,” said Evan Lewis, vice-president communications, Accor Asia-Pacific, which commissioned the survey.

“That said, Hong Kong remains an important gateway for travellers doing business in Mainland China—and for Mainlanders engaging in business travel.”

Accor found that business travellers took an average of 10 business trips in the first six months of 2012, an increase from the six trips recorded in the 2011 survey. The increase was driven largely by a greater number of domestic trips this year.

Chinese business travellers took the highest number of business trips (14) while Hong Kong and Singapore took the highest number of international trips with eight trips and seven trips, respectively.

More than a third (35%) of Asia-Pacific professionals reported an increase in travel, with the top reasons cited being a change in role that required more travel (38%); an increase in business year-on-year (35%) and increased sales and marketing efforts (28%). Some 20% also attended more conferences and seminars.