Significance:
– Business tourism has a long history as international trade.
– In the late 20th century, it became a major industry.
– In the UK, business tourism accounted for 14-30% of all trips.
– Globally, business tourism makes up around 30% of international tourism.
– The importance of business tourism varies by country.
Characteristics:
– Business tourism involves a smaller population with different motivations.
– Destinations are often developed for business purposes.
– Business tourists tend to be wealthier and spend more money.
– Activities include primary (work-related) and secondary (leisure) activities.
– Business tourism can involve individual or group travel for various events.
Types of Business Tourism:
– Traditional business traveling involves face-to-face meetings.
– Incentive trips are job perks to motivate employees.
– Conference and exhibition traveling are for large-scale meetings.
– The primary destinations for conferences are in major cities worldwide.
– The term MICE stands for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions.
Shared Facilities:
– Most tourist facilities are shared between leisure and business tourists.
– Business tourism may use facilities during less attractive times for leisure tourists.
– Business tourism can involve various types of events and meetings.
– In the US, about half of business tourism involves attending large meetings.
– Destinations for business tourism range from small to large-scale events.
See also:
– Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Business travel.
– Other related topics include the environmental impact of aviation and hypermobility.
– Marketing plays a role in promoting business tourism.
Business tourism or business travel is a more limited and focused subset of regular tourism. During business tourism (traveling), individuals are still working and being paid, but are doing so away from both their workplace and home.
Some definitions of tourism exclude business travel. However, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".
Primary business tourism activities include meetings, and attending conferences and exhibitions. Despite the term business in business tourism, when individuals from government or non-profit organizations engage in similar activities, this is still categorized as business tourism (travel).