Representatives of Russian business made 15% more business trips abroad in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. However, the share of foreign business trips as a percentage of the total number of business trips by Russian companies did not change from the previous year and remained at 18%. This is said in the report of Aero Club company – one of the leading companies in business travel branch.
China has become the most popular destination for Russian business trips, but the number of business trips overall is still 46% below pre-pandemic levels. This is according to a study by the Aero Club. The average duration of a business trip remained the same as the previous year and was seven days. Shorter business trips, averaging four days, were recorded to neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. On the other hand, business tourists from Russia took the longest business trips to Japan and Singapore, averaging 24 and 20 days respectively.
The share of business class flights on international routes increased by 10% compared to the previous year. However, the average ticket price for these flights increased by 26% to 221,000 rubles for a one-way journey. This means that an employee's economy class ticket cost 14% more in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier, at 44,000 rubles. The cheapest ticket for business tourists was to Belarus, costing 10,700 rubles in economy class, a decrease of 5% from the previous year. Most often, in the first quarter of 2024, business representatives from Russia traveled to China on business trips (with an average trip duration of eight days). Furthermore, the share of business flights to this country increased from 3% in the first quarter of 2023 to 12% in the first quarter of 2024, and their number more than quadrupled. Kazakhstan was second in terms of demand among business travelers, with an increase of 18% in demand for this destination. The share of business trips to Kazakhstan, like a year earlier, was 8%, with an average duration of four days. The experts of the Aero Club have noted a decrease in interest in business trips to Turkey. Last year, the demand for air tickets to this country decreased by 13%. Russian business tourists have also begun to fly to Serbia less frequently, by a third. However, the UAE continues to attract Russian business. Purchases of air tickets to this economic center in the Middle East have increased by 176% compared to the figures from the pre-pandemic year 2019 and by 12% compared to last year. Most often, at the beginning of 2024, employees from IT and telecommunications companies went on business trips. The share of air tickets purchased by these employees was 28%. However, compared to the first quarter of 2023, the demand for flights from this industry abroad decreased by 19%.
Representatives from the oil and gas and energy industries were 71% more likely to travel abroad for business purposes than a year earlier. Their share of air ticket purchases was 11%.
In third place are employees from pharmaceutical companies, who saw an increase of 58% in the number of international business trips, and their share grew to 7% over the year (compared to 5% in 2023).
