A record 950+ professionals from 32 countries attended the GBTA/WERC event co-located, with APAC forecast to spend $679 billion USD on business travel in 2025.
Participants’ engagement and insights clearly demonstrate the importance of Asia Pacific in the future business travel of the world. GBTA APAC Conference 2025 The Raffles City convention centre in Singapore will host the event from May 27 to 28. The event is hosted by Global Business Travel Association The third edition of the GBTA, the premier trade organization and “voice” for the global business tourism industry. WERC® Regional Summit, The event brought together more than 950 industry professionals, including travel suppliers (268), corporate travel managers (268) and other industry partners as well as nearly 50 exhibitors and sponsors.
The two-day event featured over 80 speakers, including prominent regional experts, plus ten breakouts sessions guided by regional APAC Committees. There were also collaborative sessions for buyers and suppliers. The sessions focused on the industry forecasts, challenges and emerging trends that will shape the future of business traveling. The key topics were travel program evolution and workforce mobility. Artificial intelligence, payments, sustainability and the next-generation of business travelers.
“APAC is a region that continues to demonstrate its leadership in global business tourism, as well as being a highly-engaged community of professionals. “We are thankful for the interest and enthusiasm that shows GBTA and our partner WERC are bringing the tailored programming, education, and in-person connections by the business travel industry in the region,” said Catherine Logan.
APAC Business Travel Outlook Shows Continued Growing, Region More Optimistic in 2025
During her opening presentation on the Main Stage, Suzanne Neufang (CEO of GBTA) provided the most recent forecast for APAC. GBTA Business Travel Index (BTI) Report.
- While recognizing potential headwinds by 2025, business travel spending is expected to increase to $679 billion US, an 10.9% rise from 2024.
- Five APAC markets – China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Australia – rank among the top 15 markets worldwide for business travel spending. South Korea (28.3%), India (23.9%), Australia (14.0%) and Japan (9.9%) will be the APAC countries that see the greatest growth in travel expenditure in 2025.
- GBTA BTI survey results show APAC business travelers are more likely to take six or more trips per year versus other regions, averaging three days per trip. They were more likely than other regions to use mobile wallets (69%), including access to credit cards from their companies (62%). The top three reasons that they travel are the same as their global counterparts, including training and seminars (26%), sales meetings and partner meetings (20%) and conferences (15%). 61% of business travelers combine their business trips with leisure and 81% believe that business travel is important to achieve their objectives.
Neufang also revealed that APAC respondents had submitted their results to an April GBTA global poll Assessing the potential impact of U.S. government action on business travel, such as import tariffs, US cross-border and entry restrictions, and travel advisories to the US. In the poll:
- APAC travelers are more optimistic about the year 2025 as compared with their global counterparts.
- Fewer APAC buyers anticipate a decrease in the travel volume or expenditure of their companies (23% as opposed to 29% globally).
- APAC respondents who anticipate a decline also expect a smaller decrease (14% vs. 21%).
APAC Insights Revealed by the GBTA’s Sustainability Acceleration challenge
Delphine Millot presented global insights on the APAC region by GBTA Foundation Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Sustainability. GBTA Sustainability Acceleration Challenge. This global initiative helps buyers of travel assess the maturity level of their travel programmes to benchmark progress, and accelerate the journey towards net zero.
APAC companies are in the planning phase. Opportunities to further drive action have been identified. Millot reported that 54% of APAC participants in the Challenge had included sustainability considerations into their travel policies, with purposeful journeys being the most common sustainability practice. Over two thirds report that they include sustainability features in their corporate booking platforms. APAC should also be making strides with emission tracking. 59% of APAC companies are expected to track their emissions by 2025. That’s a two-fold increase from the 2024 number.
Millot encouraged APAC firms to participate in the 2025 Acceleration Challenge Submissions will open on June 10th.
Recognition of award recipients, new GBTA advisory boards in APAC, and upcoming GBTA elections
GBTA has announced the winners of its Business Travel Service Award in APAC.
- Peter Koh, Chairman, APAC Advisory Board of the GBTA
- Sandeep Shastri is Senior Director of Airline Distribution at Sabre Asia Pacific Pty Ltd.
- Kenji Soh, GM, Southeast Asia, FCM Travel
GBTA has also announced two new companies to help support its expansion in APAC. GBTA Advisory Boards in India and China. Bringing together professionals in the region from leading organizations, they provide strategic advice, industry expertise, and local market insight.
Mark Cuschieri, GBTA Board president, encouraged APAC members in his opening remarks to vote in the upcoming GBTA election, June 2-July 8 for their benefit. first-ever elected dedicated APAC Regional Board seatThe global membership of GBTA has approved the 2024 date.
GBTA and WERC Mark Third Year of Co-Located Programming – and Announce 2026 Plans
In 2022 GBTA and WERC saw a chance to create a unique gathering in the APAC business tourism sector. Although each organization’s conferences run independently, attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors benefit from a shared expo and networking events.
Our collaboration with GBTA brings complementary communities together, expands our reach and elevates the experience of members and sponsors. All in pursuit of empowering seamless global talent movement. We look forward to another impactful year together,” said Anupam Singhal, WERC President & CEO.
“We observed a convergence of shared objectives between GBTA and WERC. Our events being co-located has been a huge success. This year’s attendees exceeded last year by almost 20%, a testimony to the value and relevance our shared attendees get from our partnership.
The announcement was made that GBTA will once again co-locate its conference in 2026. This time, the event will take place at Marina Bay Sands on May 12-13 in Singapore.
