If you’re a weekly road warrior, traveling thousands of miles each month for work, then the thrill of business travel has probably long since worn off. The endless security lines, flight delays, shabby hotel rooms, and let’s face it – pricey – but mediocre cities as venues, have left many dreading business trips as much as Monday mornings.
Turns out, you’ve probably been flying to the wrong cities – and the wrong continent.
Business travel experts at FitSmallBusiness.com set out to discover the best cities in the world for business trips. The surprise? Asian cities are the best equipped to handle the demands of business travelers. These cities provided the most affordable hotels, car rentals and food costs. However, a couple of U.S. cities made the Top 10 including Las Vegas and surprisingly – San Antonio.
With global business travel expected to grow from $1.2 to $1.6 trillion by 2020, the trend isn’t disappearing any time soon. Regardless of whether your business moved its operations online, most managers understand the importance and immeasurable value of building face-to-face relationships. Yet, factors such as employees’ productivity, number of expenses, and quality of employees’ experiences can vary from city to city.
The experts researched 100 global cities to identify the ones best equipped to handle the demands of the business professional. Then they analyzed data from sources such as Business News Travel, Cvent, FlightStats, and the Federal Aviation Administration, to provide business travelers with a definitive ranking of the best cities in the world for business travel.
The Top 10 Cities in the World for Business Trips
1) Bangkok, Thailand
2) Madrid, Spain
3) Guangzhou, China
4) Berlin, Germany
5) Singapore
6) Beijing, China
7) San Antonio, Texas (U.S.A.)
8) Dubai, United Arab Emirates
9) Las Vegas, Nevada (U.S.A.)
10) New Delhi, India
FitSmallBusiness.com looked at seven metrics which measure the quantity and quality of a city’s amenities. One thing to note: the publication did not factor transportation expenses to and from the city into the mix due to widely varying travel costs. As an example, the cost of flying to Bangkok from Los Angeles will be much less expensive than from New York.
The 7 Factors That Contribute to a Great Business Travel Experience: (in weighted percentages):
1) Number of hotels – 20 percent
2) Number of sleeping rooms – 20 percent
3) Number of air travel operations 15 percent
4) Accuracy of arrivals and departures – 17.5 percent
5) Hotel costs – 12.5 percent
6) Food costs – 7.5 percent
7) Car rental costs – 7.5 percent
“We were surprised to find that six of the cities on our list are located in Asia,” says Eric Noe, Editor-in-Chief, FitSmallBusiness.com. “Asian cities offer business professionals the most affordable hotel, car rental, and food options. In contrast, only two U.S. cities made the top 10, and in fact, most American cities fell to the bottom 50.”
