The global state of business travel has been unstable and difficult to predict over the past year. However, according to a recent study by The Global Business Travel Association, Asia was home to the fastest-growing business travel market in 2016, and growth is expected to continue.

GBTA’s latest report revealed the value of India’s business travel sector increased 11.4 per cent in 2016 and is expected to expand by 11.6 per cent this year. This will take the market’s total value to $36.8 billion by the end of the year, giving India the strongest growth rates of any major global market.

“India continues to position itself to become a world leader in business travel for decades to come,” said Gaurav Sundaram, regional director for India, GBTA. “Despite fears surrounding the demonetization efforts, India saw a 10.9 per cent growth in year-over-year business travel spending for the second quarter of 2016 — even higher than our last report projected.”

Having moved up five places during the 2000s to become the world’s 10^th-largest business travel market at the end of 2015, GBTA predicts India will overtake South Korea and Italy in becoming the sixth-largest market by 2019.

What is contributing to this rapid growth? Domestic business travel spending is on the rise, predicted to jump 12 per cent this year and 11.8 per cent next year. Domestic spending accounts for nearly 92 per cent of India’s total business travel value. The country’s international outbound business travel spending is believed to have increased 5.4 per cent last year, accelerating toward 9 per cent in 2017.