"Rising Tide in the East: China Business Travel Without Limits" (2026 Edition) Released: First Time Unveiling the "Black Box" of China's Business Travel Market

Ask AI · How does China’s business travel market demonstrate its unique value within the global coordinate system?

As the wheels of the business travel industry enter an era of intertwined globalization and localization, and as the wave of digitalization reshapes every cross-border connection, China’s business travel market stands at the intersection of history and the future. This is not only the vigorous growth of a trillion-dollar consumer market but also a vivid microcosm of China’s economic resilience and industrial upgrading.

We understand that single-dimensional data analysis cannot depict the full picture of the market, and fragmented industry observations cannot reach the essence of development. Therefore, Global Travel News in collaboration with Ctrip Business Travel has spent several months creating this panoramic research report, aiming to penetrate appearances, hit the core, and present industry insights that are deep, warm, and forward-looking.

The original intention of this report stems from a deep curiosity about the linkage logic between the global and Chinese business travel markets: Behind the fluctuations in global business travel expenditure recorded by GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) for five consecutive years, what underlying relationships exist between the stage of national economic development, industrial structure characteristics, and business travel activities? As China becomes a core growth pole in the global business travel market, how do its unique development path, market features, and driving forces demonstrate their distinct value within the global coordinate system? Especially in recent years, significant changes have emerged in the Chinese market—large enterprises beginning to build their own travel platforms based on their enormous needs, evolving from traditional client-company identities to competitors within the same industry; simultaneously, with Chinese companies expanding overseas, overseas travel demand is also increasing. These new, regionally and temporally characteristic changes are profoundly reshaping the boundaries and competitive landscape of the Chinese market. We hope to reflect China’s resilience and potential through a global lens; and to organize the development trajectory and规律 of the industry through a historical axis.

This is a panoramic scan across borders. We break the limitations of a single perspective and, for the first time, construct a three-dimensional analysis framework covering multiple ecological niches from a macro level — both tracing the historical evolution of Chinese business travel from “ticketing agency” to “intelligent management,” and focusing on current management reforms at the enterprise level, personal travel experience demands, service upgrades of TMCs, strategic adjustments of resource providers, as well as deeper technological innovations and ESG practices. From the budget control of corporate travel managers to the travel experience of employees, from resource integration of airlines and hotels to payment technology process innovations, we strive to connect isolated topics and present a tightly linked, vivid business travel ecosystem.

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Three “Firsts” of the Report

Three “Firsts” to Fill Industry Gaps

• First attempt to decompose the total size of China’s business travel market using international standards, filling the market data gap;

• First systematic and multi-dimensional integration of four ecological perspectives—enterprise, TMC, resource providers, and employees—to clarify the true operational logic of the market;

• First in-depth exploration combined with macro indicators like GDP and trade, conducting exploratory analysis and extracting forward-looking insights;

Ultimately transforming into “So What” strategic guidance tailored for different stakeholders.

02

Research Methods

To systematically and comprehensively understand the current state of China’s business travel market, this report adopts a combination of C-end user surveys, B-end industry research, and expert interviews.

C-end User Survey:

Through online questionnaires, targeting business travelers (n=1305)), conducting quantitative research covering multiple cities across mainland China and Hong Kong, focusing on travel experience, service satisfaction, and actual needs throughout the entire travel process.

B-end Industry Research:

Via online questionnaires, targeting upstream and downstream participants of the travel supply chain and ecosystem partners, conducting quantitative research, including corporate travel managers (n=48)), TMCs and B2B service providers (n=93)), and resource providers such as airlines/hotels/vehicle services (n=37().

Expert Interviews:

Through one-on-one in-depth interviews with senior executives from leading industry companies (n=19)), conducting qualitative research covering TMCs, B2B service providers, hotel groups, airlines, car platforms, and technology service providers, capturing real business conditions at the frontline and providing valuable insights and frameworks for the report.

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Overview of the Report Content

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Expert Team

This report is jointly authored by the following experts:

• Yu Zhanfu: Senior independent consulting advisor, former global partner at Roland Berger, with over 20 years of management consulting experience

• Li Chao: Founder and CEO of Global Travel News, Director of the Business Travel Service Department of the China Tourism Association

• Li Hanming: Renowned data analyst and industry observer, expert at the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s new think tank platform

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Report Access

Click to download the Executive Summary (Brief Version) of the report

👉Click here to pre-order the full report

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See You in the Next Issue

We always believe that a good industry report is not only about deep insights but also about broad dialogue and consensus-building.

If you are also a participant in China’s business travel market, we welcome you to join us. We offer the following collaboration options:

• Joint research: co-design research dimensions and share data insights

• Case inclusion: include your company’s practical cases in the report

• Thematic co-creation: collaborate deeply on topics like going abroad, AI, and employee experience

We look forward to partners such as:

• TMCs and other travel service providers

• Hotel groups and resource providers for accommodation, flights, and transportation

• Insurance/payment/settlement/financial platforms and other ecosystem partners

• Business travel technology service providers

• Enterprises involved in the upstream and downstream of the travel supply chain

For cooperation inquiries, please contact

Global Travel News Research Institute

Global Travel News Research Institute

Relying on Global Travel News’s extensive industry resources and data insights accumulated over years in the tourism sector, the institute focuses on core areas such as tourism consumption and branding, business travel, smart tourism, and corporate expansion, regularly releasing in-depth industry research reports, white papers, competitiveness rankings, and development indices.