Global business tourism spending was estimated to reach approximately **** trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Business travel is a branch of the tourism industry focusing on trips made for work-related purposes. Attending congresses, meetings, and trade fairs, for instance, are among the main activities related to this market.

Italy registered nearly ** million international business travel arrivals in 2019, according to data published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). In that same year, France reported over ** million inbound business traveler arrivals, while the United States' corporate travel tourism volume amounted to ***** million tourist arrivals.

Domestic business travel spending in the United States reached over *** billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This figure has seen growth since 2020 where it fell to *** billion U.S. dollars as a result of travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Travel spending is forecast to reach almost *** billion U.S. dollars by 2028.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic massively disrupted global travel and tourism in 2020. Countries across the globe enacted emergency measures and travel bans to curb the spread of the virus. Due to the impact of the pandemic, business tourism spending in Europe fell dramatically in 2020 over the previous year. Overall, Germany was the European country recording the highest figure in 2020, with spending on business trips amounting to 36 billion U.S. dollars that year, dropping from 66.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. The United Kingdom reported the second-highest expenditure in Europe in 2020, at over 23 billion U.S. dollars.

As a result of the COVID-19 impact on the global travel market, the expenditure of business tourists from the Asia Pacific region declined to a little over *** billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Meanwhile, the total business travel spending of Western Europeans and North Americans amounted to less than *** billion U.S. dollars.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic massively disrupted global travel and tourism in 2020. Countries across the globe enacted emergency measures and travel bans to curb the spread of the virus. Due to the impact of the pandemic, business tourism spending fell dramatically in 2020 over the previous year across all global regions. Overall, Asia Pacific recorded the highest figure in 2020, with spending on business trips amounting to nearly 174 billion U.S. dollars that year, dropping sharply from over 403 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Europe reported the second-highest expenditure in 2020, adding up to 152 billion U.S. dollars.

Leisure travel accounts for the highest global travel and tourism expenditure. In 2024, leisure trips represented roughly ** percent of travel and tourism spending worldwide, showing an increase of *** percentage points over 2019.

In 2019 and 2020, German business tourists accounted for the largest share of business travel spending in Western Europe. By 2024, the country is expected to remain in the region's first place, with a share of a little over ** percent over the total's expenditure of domestic and outbound tourists from Western European countries.

The share of total global GDP generated by business tourism spending reached 0.7 percent in 2019, a value that has remained stable since 2015. The contribution of business tourism to the total global GDP has fluctuated slightly since 1995, always staying in the range of 0.6 and 0.8 percent.

In 2023, UK business travelers in Europe spent **** billion British pounds during their trips, which shows an increase of approximately six percent versus 2019. Meanwhile, business travelers from the UK spent **** billion British pounds in North America in 2023.

Business travel spending in Vancouver, including domestic and international visitor spending, dropped by 70 percent in 2021 compared to 2019, the year prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2021, the expenditure by business travelers in the Canadian city amounted to roughly 480 million U.S. dollars.

Brazil has positioned itself as the leading source market for business tourism in Central and South America, accounting for more than ** percent of the region's total business travel spending in 2019. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this share dropped to a little over ** percent in 2020 and is expected to remain around that figure in 2024.

The average daily spend by inbound business tourists in the United Kingdom amounted to *** British pounds in 2023. This denoted a decrease of ** percent from the previous year. The region from which the highest spenders came was North America, with business travelers spending an average *** British pounds a day.

In 2023, domestic business travelers in the United States took more than 413 million trips, which was around 11.4 percent more than in the previous year. However, that figure was still below the one recorded in 2019.

São Paulo was the leading business tourism destination in Brazil in 2019, according to a survey. Approximately half of the respondents reporting heading to that city for their business travel. The second most visited destination was Rio de Janeiro, with almost ** percent of the country's visitors that year.

Throughout most of the past decade, the number of international tourist arrivals in France which were motivated by business purposes surpassed eleven million each year. The lowest figure recorded in that period was in 2010, with approximately 9.7 inbound business visitor arrivals. By contrast, more than 11.8 million tourist arrivals of this kind were recorded in that European country in 2015 and 2017.

The average daily spend by UK business travelers in Europe amounted to *** British pounds in 2023. This represents a decline of around **** percent versus 2022. Meanwhile, business tourists from the United Kingdom in North America spent an average of *** British pounds per day in 2023.

In 2022, around 1.9 billion U.S. dollars of spending in the travel and tourism industry in Ghana were for leisure purposes. On the other hand, tourists spent nearly 869 million U.S. dollars on business. The total expenditure comprised international and domestic visitor spending.

The business travel industry contributed *********** jobs in the United States in 2022, of which over half were direct jobs. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, this travel segment supported *** million jobs in the North American country.

The USA spent the most during business visits to the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 with ***** million British pounds. Business travelers from France and Germany spent *** and *** million pounds respectively. The three countries are the overall leading business travel markets to the UK based on expenditure.