Amex Business Travel Barometer Shows Surge Ahead For Chinese T&E

China's GDP grew at its fastest rate in 11 years at 10.7 percent in 2006, yet more than half of 230 travel buyer respondents did not have an increase in their T&E expenditure in a 12-month span beginning in August 2006, according to a survey American Express Business Travel unveiled today at its China Business Travel Forum in Shanghai.

The 2007 Barometer of Business Travel Management in China also showed a sharp increase in companies that raised T&E expenses in the country. Nearly half of the respondents said their T&E budgets have increased, up from 28 percent during the same period last year. More than half also expect their T&E expenditures to increase over the next 12 months.

"Some companies in manufacturing and exporting are seeing pretty much stable year-on- year growth," said Gregor Lochtie, American Express Business Travel vice president and general manager for Greater China, "but where we are seeing growth are the companies that are aggressively going after the Chinese market, so they have to go out into China and from Chinese companies going out into the world to sell their products and services."

American Express Business Travel based its survey on results from organizations with at least 100 employees from six industry sectors across Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. The majority of respondents were from Chinese-owned companies, while one-third of respondents worked for foreign-based multinationals. Amex said not all of the respondents were clients.