Q1 2023: New Business Flight Destinations Emerge

New data from Corporate Traveller, Australia’s leading travel management company for SMEs and a division of Flight Centre Travel Group, has revealed the top international destinations for business travellers in the first quarter of 2023 – with some surprising results.

Corporate Traveller’s data ranks the top five countries and top five cities for business flights by booking volumes in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023. Corporate Traveller has also compared the data with bookings in the same quarter of 2022, to demonstrate the shift in business travel behaviour and business activity.

Country rankings

Top business destinations include renowned hubs such as the USA, Singapore, and the UK, who jostle for the top three spots on the board. USA came out on top. Last quarter, it saw a 54 per cent increase in bookings on 2022 Q1 bookings. Singapore ranked second and the UK ranked third, with a 69 per cent increase in bookings. Out of the three destinations, Singapore has seen the biggest growth percentage, with a 108 per cent increase in business travel bookings.

It may come as little surprise, however, given investment by these countries in trade fairs (the UK’s Reed Exhibitions, a B2B events organiser, generated 1.35 billion euros in revenue in 2018, venture capital firms (Singapore has 400 firms that provide financial support to small businesses and start-ups), and their reputation and contribution to the business world.

Singapore is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner and investor in Southeast Asia and is Australia’s fifth largest trading partner in goods and services ($46.8 billion in 2021-22), which helps to explains why Australian SMEs are so keen to visit.

Tom Walley, Corporate Traveller’s Australian-based Global Managing Director, says: “This growth in business travel is testament to the business opportunities Singapore offers to Australian businesses, and is something that we hope will continue to flourish as more SMEs recognise the value of visiting Singaporean business partners, stakeholders and investors in person.”

However, two new country destinations that have appeared in the top five for Q1 2023 are Papua New Guinea and China. Papua New Guinea has received enormous booking growth for business travel, at a 229 per cent increase on last year. This is partially explained by the official opening of the nation’s borders in July 2022. Seeing similar growth is China (after three years of COVID-19 disruptions, the country reopened its borders in January this year), which has leapt up the table to fifth placement for business travel bookings.

Tom adds: “Papua New Guinea’s and China’s entry to the top business destinations list are welcome additions for the recent quarter. Both destinations are immensely popular with Australian business travellers, what with Papua New Guinea’s growing mining industry and tax-relieving Economic Zones, and Australia’s ongoing trading relationship with China. It’s reassuring to see the immediate recovery of business travel to these destinations now that restrictions have eased.”

Rankings of the top five business destinations revealed by Corporate Traveller booking data: 

City rankings

Topping the list of the top five cities for business travel across Q1 2023 is Singapore, overtaking last year’s top spot, London.

Honiara, Kuala Lumpur, and Port Moresby are the new additions to the top five business cities for the quarter. Large mining projects are in the Solomon Islands, which may contribute to the growth of business travellers heading to its capital city, Honiara. The same goes for those heading to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

For Kuala Lumpur, the growth of Australian businesses travelling to the city could be attributed to the country’s positive trade relationship (the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement has now been in effect for 10 years) and the growth of its e-Commerce landscape (supported by the Malaysian Government’s National E-commerce Strategic Roadmap), which Australian businesses can tap into.

Tom says: “Australia’s continued growth in trade and business development in South-East Asian and Melanesian countries is demonstrated by the rise in bookings to these cities. This also proves how beneficial in-person meetings are to developing international business relations. Here at Corporate Traveller, we’re proud to offer SMEs travel solutions that help enable these relationships.”

Top business cities revealed by Corporate Traveller booking data: