Business Travel and Corporate Housing Trends in APAC – Mid-Year 2024

Dwellworks and Dwellworks Living continue to monitor the growing and changing relocation market across APAC. The entire region has evolved considerably since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trends we’re seeing now demand to be studied. Many of those trends were discussed at the joint-hosted GBTA-WERC Conference in Singapore in May. Our team in attendance – myself, Dawn Brandenburg, Stuart Giam, and Debi Vibin - shared the following insights as we head into the second half of 2024.

WERC and GBTA Takeaways

Business travel boomed in Asia Pacific in 2023, more than any other region, as borders were fully opened in markets that had been severely restricted during the COVID-19 epidemic. Travel picked up especially in markets like Japan, Australia, and, finally again, Hong Kong. Travel to China is increasing as well, although the corporate relocation, long-term assignment volume remains low. Suzanne Neufang, CEO at GBTA, shared these revealing statistics:

2023 Business Travel Spend by Region (estimated % of global total, $US)

As well as the data from the 2023 Business Travel Index Report that predicts the benchmark return to ‘pre pandemic’ travel volume to happen in 2024. A big contributor to that spend is travel to and within the APAC region.

Global Business Travel Spend (in Billions $US)

Regional Relocation Observations

Relocation activity in 2024 throughout APAC has been at a lower volume than the ‘spring back’ year of 2023. As noted, China’s recovery as a relocation destination is slow moving for several reasons. As companies pursue a “China +1” strategy for sourcing and manufacturing locally and in alternative locations, trade, economic, and global policy continue to be in the headlines. The news of Microsoft’s plan to offer relocation support to several hundred AI and cloud-based professionals in China broke during the WERC conference, confirming there is still tension in the system regarding China and global mobility.

Other regional destinations, such as Australia and Hong Kong, continue to see a pickup in global assignment activity. Hong Kong remains a market to watch – the inbound and return volume (from locations such as Singapore) is encouraging but is not close to pre-pandemic levels. Moves from mainland China are impacting values in the Hong Kong real estate market however, which is experiencing its first increase in price after months of stagnant or even falling values.

India remains a global economic hotspot. Its GDP growth for 2024 has risen higher than originally predicted, once thought to be more than 8.0%. Not surprisingly, talent mobility within India was a key topic at the conferences. Many moves are temporary, two-way, and with low-cost budgets. An emerging trend in response to this activity is a rapidly growing need for economically priced temporary living assistance. See the latest report from our Devi Vibin, APAC Supply Chain Manager for Dwellworks Living, who shared her thoughts on LinkedIn for insights into a furnished-living solution with a local partner in Singapore - this may be emerging as a potential solution in multiple locations across APAC.

Devi Vibin

 

Have AI and Sustainability Fully Arrived in APAC Mobility?

Another big topic at the conference was, not surprisingly, AI and its impact on mobility. Listening to a good number of these discussions, it is fair to say that, so far, the AI impact in the region has been limited. As elsewhere, the focus is on managing business effectively by moving to digital platforms and harnessing data for AI further down the road. With global mobility still being adopted as a common business practice in many sectors, the focus is on providing expert support to a population unfamiliar with both intra- and international relocation. Also shared was the insight that, while AI comes with seemingly endless future benefits, it also comes with significant operating costs as well. The cost of cloud storage and the environmental impact of energy usage from data farms providing AI solutions will need to be taken into consideration.

Sustainability as a business need was another topic of interest that continues to surface. As we've discussed in our 2023 ESG Impact Report and other ESG-related reports, the growth focus is for more "next stage" collaboration in our industry. Many individual companies, including Dwellworks Living, have made investments and progress against goals for lowering carbon emissions, but real progess will come with commonly accepted targets and calculators, which are now the focus of several associations participating in the Coalition for Greener Mobility.

Do You Have Talent Mobility and Business Travel Needs in APAC?

Dwellworks and Dwellworks Living are local and regional experts across APAC. We can help with Destination Services and temporary living needs in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, India, and other key APAC markets. Contact our Director of Client Services in APAC, Stuart Giam, at [email protected] to explore our solutions and services.