According to data from Corporate Traveller, Flight Centre’s business travel arm for small and medium sized enterprises, international business travel bookings to Perth grew 34 per cent when comparing the last seven months of 2022 and the first seven of 2023.
The city with the next highest growth was Brisbane, which saw a 25 per cent increase in business travel bookings, while Sydney and Melbourne saw just eight per cent and seven per cent growth respectively.
Corporate Traveller believes business travel to Perth could exceed the same to Melbourne in this financial year.
“Corporate Traveller data from earlier this year revealed that the construction industry is the leading sector for travel spend, having increased its expenditure by 98 per cent between the first quarter of 2022 and 2023,” said Corporate Traveller global CEO, Tom Walley, who is based in Australia.
“It’s a clear indicator that business is booming with more travel required for employees and stakeholders needing to visit new sites and projects across Australia.”
Corporate Traveller also believes the state government’s investment in increasing business opportunity and events in Western Australia is also a factor influencing the massive growth in travel bookings.
Walley also puts Perth’s outsized performance down to the emergence of Perth on the global radar when compared to established Australian hubs.
“Melbourne and Sydney have always had good international connections in corporate business, with both CBDs home to many global companies and international events; Sydney is hosting the World Business Forum this October, for example,” he said.
“However, Brisbane, Adelaide and particularly Perth are gaining international business presence on a faster scale. We can only expect this to continue, with the continuation of hybrid working and growing globalisation in business.”
Adelaide’s international business traveller bookings grew by 21 per cent over the period.
