The World’s Most Expensive Cities For Business Trips
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New York is the world’s most expensive city for business travelers and only one European destination makes the top five, new research has found.
According to data compiled by tech start-up Expert Market using BTN’s Corporate Travel Index, company owners whose employees visit the Big Apple for work can expect to fork out $547 per person per day for the average business trip.
San Francisco and Boston complete the top three with daily expenses of up to $534 and $511 respectively and US cities occupy 50% of the top 20 most expensive business travel places, with Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, and Santa Barbara all featuring.
The expenses included the daily cost of accommodation, food, car rental or taxis.
Accommodation was the big ticket item in New York, totalling $385 per night, while Newark and Honolulu topped the list of most expensive taxis and food, with $80 and $123 respectively.
Business travel is on the rise worldwide and, according to figures from the Global Business Travel Association, the corporate sector travel grew 3.5% year-on-year in 2016 and is poised to grow by 6.1% and 7% in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Tokyo was the costliest city outside of the US and the fourth overall, as travellers can expect to spend up to $489 for every day that they visit the Japanese capital, with taxis alone costing $133 per day, the most expensive outside the US.
Zurich was ranked just below Tokyo, the costliest city in Europe with daily expenses of up to $472, closely followed by London, where expenses came in at $467 per day. Unsurprisingly, hotels in London were ranked as the most expensive among non-US cities at $279.
Basel and Geneva, meanwhile, were the only other two European cities in the top 10, costing $443 and $432 per day respectively, with the former topping the bill for most expensive food at $133.
Chicago recorded the biggest yearly increase among US cities, with prices 16% from the previous 12 months, while the cost of a one-day trip business trip to Buenos Aires soared 31% last year, the most of any cities outside the US.
International business trips have normally been perceived as a huge inconvenience at both the professional and personal level.
However, so-called “bleisure trips” – which combine business with leisure – have become a popular phenomenon recently, as workers make the most of their work trips, by extending their stay into the weekend to visit new parts of the world.
However, a survey released earlier this week showed the majority of business leaders around the world believe travel has become more dangerous over the past year due to security threats and natural disasters.
Nearly two out of three of 667 business decision-makers surveyed across 69 countries said travel risks had increased in 2017, with 78% of those polled in the Americas reporting increased risk.
The poll by Ipsos Mori and medical and travel security services firm International SOS revealed that global business travel plans were altered over the past 12 months mainly due to security threats, followed by natural disasters, travel risk ratings and civil unrest.
Source: International Business Times, Dan Cancian
