China's business travel market enjoys robust recovery

China's business travel market is recovering robustly with sustainable travel emerging as the new trend, a round-table discussion heard on Thursday.

The discussion in Huangpu District brought together government officials, industry experts, and business insiders to brainstorm about trends in the business travel market, sustainable business travel, tax refund services, and the application of technologies.

"With the application of preferential visa-free policies and continuous resumption of international flights, the business travel market has witnessed an explosive growth which has surpassed that of 2019," said Jin Ling, secretary-general of the MICE and business travel branch of Shanghai Tourism Trade Association.

"Sustainable travel is gaining increasing attention and acceptance," she noted.

Hotels in China are promoting low-carbon practices, and paperless air and railway tickets are increasingly used, said Li Chao, director of the business travel service commission of China Tourism Association.

"Sustainable travel is expected to create extra value to businesses although the promotion process still confronts difficulties and takes a long time," he said.

During the event, Global Sustainable Travel (Shanghai) Technology Co, a newly established high-tech service enterprise dedicated to green and sustainable business travel service and one-stop global business travel management solutions supplier, signed cooperation agreements with partners.

"Technology plays a key role in the tourism industry, and AI technology is expected to bring breakthroughs in hotel, air and railway ticket bookings," said Ding Hai, founder of GST.

Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com said its recent daily international business travel orders had surged 147.95 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The implementation of a series of preferential visa-free policies is behind the scenes, which further expand the fast travel network of cross-border travelers, according to the report.