How India Became One of the Fastest‑Growing Business Travel Markets
Photo Credit: Visitors at the Yashobhoomi convention and exhibition centre in New Delhi. IICC New Delhi
Skift Take
As India's high-value business travel is on-track to surpass pre-Covid levels, competition in India is heating up with OTAs and hotel chains adjusting their strategies to sharpen their focus on this segment.
India is among the fastest growing markets for business travel spending, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). Business travel worldwide is expected to reach an all-time high of $1.57 trillion by the end of 2025, as per GBTA’s projections.
While the global year-on-year growth rate is expected to stand at a moderate 6.6% this year due to “trade tensions, policy uncertainty and economic pressures,” GBTA expects this growth to rebound to 8.1% next year. Still, India, along with South Korea and Turkey, are among the fastest-growing business travel spending markets among the top 15 markets.
In March, at the GBTA-powered FCM Corporate Travel Summit in India, Elle Ng-Darmawan, GBTA's regional director for APAC said that business travel spending in India stood at an estimated $38.3 billion. It was the eighth largest market in the world for travel spending in 2024.
As per GBTA, India is the fourth largest market for business tr
