The National Business Travel Association and Egencia, the corporate travel arm of Expedia Inc., have released findings from a new study that quantifies global business travel spend and projects business travel growth through 2013.

Evaluating 72 countries, the study shows that business travel growth patterns vary dramatically across the globe, with North America advancing at an average rate of just over 2 percent per year for the last decade, Western Europe growing 4.6 percent annually, and Asia-Pacific advancing by 7.2 percent annually. “Emerging” Europe (a region comprising 13 Central and Eastern European countries including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, and Croatia) and the Middle East/Africa region advanced annually by 12.4 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively, from 1998 to 2008.

Over the next five years, the report predicts, growth of business travel to China and Japan will exceed growth of business travel to the U.S. over the next five years. In addition, developing nations such as India, Vietnam, Iran, and Indonesia will experience significant compound annual growth rates over the same timeframe.

The study finds that the North America, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions each represent about 30 percent of the global business travel market (90 percent combined), estimated to total $929 billion in 2008. This figure includes both domestic and outbound international travel. The remaining 10 percent of global activity takes place in Latin America, Emerging Europe, and the Middle East/Africa. The United States represents the largest piece of global business travel spend, with $261 billion or 28 percent of the world total, followed by China at 10 percent and Japan at 8 percent.

“This study shows that business travel spend has increased by more than 35 percent since 1998,” said Kenneth McGill, NBTA Research Consultant and lead analyst on the IHS Global Insight report. “Most of this growth has been due to an expanding global economy and the rising dispersion of business travel activity around the world.”

The full study, conducted by IHS Global Insight, includes a comprehensive forecast of U.S. and global business travel activity. Additional findings will be shared during education sessions at the 2009 NBTA International Convention & Exposition August 23-26 in San Diego. For complete agenda information, visit the NBTA Web site.