The geography of demand

By definition, business travel and tourism involves the movement of people so its pattern of demand will clearly have a strong geographical dimension. This is manifested in two ways:

1 A distinction, as with leisure travel, between domestic, inbound and outbound travel.

The balance of these three types of demand will vary significantly between destinations.

2 Geographical differences, in terms of countries or regions of the world, from which a destination attracts the majority of its business travellers.

Differences in levels of inbound business tourism between countries

Еhe volume of demand for business travel and tourism in any destination is influenced by a wide variety of factors, in both the destination itself and the generating countries. It is not surprising, therefore, that the demand for business travel to different countries varies dramatically in terms of:

• the number of inbound business travellers

• the balance between business travel demand and other forms of tourism.

Individual cities and business travel and tourism

There are large differences between individual cities in terms of the proportion of their inbound tourism which is based upon business travel and tourism specifically, for example “City Percentage of all inbound tourist trips which are business travel and tourism related”*:

Barcelona 35 (international visitors only)

Chicago 43 (international visitors only)

Copenhagen 39 (international visitors only)

Delhi 22 (international visitors only)

Geneva 70 (international visitors only)

Glasgow 18 (international visitors) 27 (domestic visitors)

Hong Kong 32 (international visitors only)

London 21 (international visitors only)

Melbourne1 14 (international visitors only)

Montreal 17 (international visitors only)

Paris 18 (international visitors only)

Rome 11 (international visitors) 31 (domestic visitors)

Singapore 16 (international visitors only)

Sydney 12 (international visitors only)

Toronto 21 (international visitors only)

* Source: Travel and Tourism Intelligence Country Reports (1999 and 2000).

Conclusion

1 The business travel market is a complex and fragmented market which is constantly changing.

2 Europe currently dominates the global business travel market.

3 There are significant national differences in the nature of the business travel market.

4 Predicting the future of demand in business travel is difficulty and risky.

Nevertheless, overall, it seems that business travel and tourism is a buoyant, growing market across the world.

The impacts of business travel and tourism

As with leisure tourism, business travel and tourism has economic, environmental and social impacts – both positive and negative.

The economic impact of business travel and tourism

More and more countries, regions, cities and resorts have been trying to attract all kinds of business tourism because it is seen to be the most economically beneficial form of tourism.

Surveys all over the world tend to show business tourists, and particularly conference delegates, spending between two and four times as much money as tourists as a whole.

There is no doubt that business tourism can bring substantial economic benefits to destinations and suppliers.