China again a popular destination for Swiss business travelers
According to an evaluation by corporate payment specialist AirPlus International, China is once again among the top destinations for Swiss business travelers. In addition to a shift in the most popular destinations, it also shows that companies are spending more on airline tickets in the first quarter of 2023 than in the same period of the previous year. In addition, flights are being booked significantly earlier again.
Just a few months after China opened its borders, business travel to the Middle Kingdom is once again in high demand: In the first three months of the year, China was the fifth most popular long-haul destination for business travelers from Switzerland. This is shown by an evaluation of the transactions for airline tickets processed via AirPlus. Most travelers to China went to Shanghai. Last year, China had slipped to 27th place in the long-distance ranking, after the country had occupied the classic second place behind the USA before the corona pandemic.
While the USA retained its top spot in intercontinental traffic from Switzerland in the first quarter of the year, India moved up to second position. In recent years, the country has steadily gained in importance as a business travel destination, after ranking fifth in 2019. The United Arab Emirates are in third place (Q1 2019: fourth place).
Travel is booked earlier and earlier
Overall, spending by Swiss companies on airline tickets increased by 90 percent between January and March 2023 compared with the same period last year. What is striking here is that bookings were made significantly earlier than last year, on average 31.4 days before travel. After bookings had been made at very short notice during the pandemic, the advance booking period had recently even settled above the pre-Corona value of around 27 days. The longer deadlines now indicate that companies want to secure the scarcer flight capacities early on.
Ticket prices become slightly cheaper
Ticket prices recently changed slightly downwards: Business class tickets cost an average of CHF 4530 in Q1 2023, 0.2 percent less than in Q4 2022, while prices for economy tickets fell 4.1 percent to CHF 603 from CHF 629 most recently.
Fewer domestic flights
A trend that is continuing: Swiss companies are taking fewer domestic flights. The traditionally low proportion of flights within Switzerland's borders was still 0.2 percent in the first three months of 2023. In the first quarter of 2019, 1.0 percent of Swiss business travelers still used a domestic flight. This development is an indication that companies are increasingly attaching importance to sustainability in business travel.
Source: AirPlus
