– Data shows top 10 most-booked destinations within the Asia Pacific region and globally –
SINGAPORE, 17 March 2016 – The Asia Pacific region remains the focus for Singapore’s business travellers, according to new data from American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), with Asia Pacific cities comprising the entire top ten most visited destinations by Singapore-based business travellers in 2015. As Singapore continues to play a key role as a central business hub within APAC, short trips to neighbouring cities remain a cornerstone of business operations for many of Singapore’s top executives.
Encompassing all air bookings made directly with GBT for Singapore-based travellers between January and December 2015, the travel destinations data provides a snapshot of business travel flows from Singapore around Asia, and further abroad. Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok emerge as the top three destinations for business travel, with London ranking as the top business travel destination outside of APAC.
“The list of top business travel destinations from Singapore has remained broadly consistent for the past few years now, but it’s worth acknowledging emerging industries which are partly influencing the rankings. Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta remain the top two destinations due to the traditional business links with Singapore, close proximity, as well as being technology and data centre hubs. Other top ranked cities such as Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo are very popular for private wealth management and banking, despite a moderate decline in travel spending within financial services in recent times,” said David Reimer, Managing Director, American Express Global Business Travel, APAC.
“We’re not anticipating any significant shifts to the top travel rankings in the foreseeable future. Singapore remains an attractive regional base for many major companies due to favourable tax laws, and it’s also a desirable and highly liveable location for senior executives relocating from abroad. As Asia Pacific continues to grow into a powerhouse of the global economy, we are likely to continue to see the role of Singapore as a business hub develop even further.”
Asia remains the focus
Cities within Asia Pacific comprise the top ten business travel destinations from Singapore, and these rankings mirror results for the previous year, with Kuala Lumpur continuing to lead. Despite a decline in business travel spend within the financial services sector, key cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo remain important business travel destinations for Singapore’s business travellers.
| Top 10 international destinations | |
| Rank | Destination |
| 1 | KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA |
| 2 | JAKARTA, INDONESIA |
| 3 | BANGKOK, THAILAND |
| 4 | HONG KONG, CHINA |
| 5 | SHANGHAI, CHINA |
| 6 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES |
| 7 | TOKYO, JAPAN |
| 8 | SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA |
| 9 | MUMBAI, INDIA |
| 10 | TAIPEI, TAIWAN |
Source: American Express Global Business Travel AUS point of sale data destination analysis for January – December 2015.
London leads the way outside of APAC
Unsuprisingly, London and New York rank as the top two business travel destinations outside of Asia Pacific. Milan, as one of the world’s fashion capitals, makes it onto the top ten list in tenth place, with Zurich, Switzerland, the only city listed in last year’s ranking which did not make the top ten.
| Top 10 international destinations excluding APAC | |
| Rank | Destination |
| 1 | LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM |
| 2 | NEW YORK, UNITED STATES |
| 3 | SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES |
| 4 | DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES |
| 5 | AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS |
| 6 | LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES |
| 7 | FRANKFURT, GERMANY |
| 8 | PARIS, FRANCE |
| 9 | MUNICH, GERMANY |
| 10 | MILAN, ITALY |
Source: American Express Global Business Travel AUS point of sale data destination analysis for January – December 2015.
Notes to editors
The data presented here, provided by American Express Global Business Travel Global Business Consulting, is based on actual bookings through American Express Global Business Travel between between January 2015 – December 2015.
About American Express Global Business Travel
American Express Global Business Travel enables corporations and empowers business travellers with insights, connections and exceptional customer service on a global scale. Through technology and information, American Express Global Business Travel provides leading travel solutions, integrated consulting services, proprietary research, and end-to-end meetings and events capabilities. These innovative offerings enable clients to optimise the return on their travel and meetings investments.
American Express Global Business Travel has operations and network partners in nearly 140 countries worldwide with approximately 12,000 employees. American Express Global Business Travel ranked first among corporate travel providers in the 2015 Corporate Travel 100 (“CT100”), an annual listing compiled by Business Travel News which ranks companies with the largest volume of U.S. air bookings. Learn more about how American Express Global Business Travel connects the world at amexglobalbusinesstravel.com and twitter.com/amexgbt.
American Express Global Business Travel (“GBT”) is a joint venture that is not wholly-owned by American Express Company or any of its subsidiaries (“American Express”). “American Express Global Business Travel”, “American Express” and the American Express logo are trademarks of American Express, and are used under limited license.
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Media Contacts:
Sarah Blades
American Express Global Business Travel
+61 2 9271 1467
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Andrew Hamilton
Mana Communications
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