According to research conducted by Booking.com, 29% of business travellers believe that Thailand is the most hospitable country and the fifth best in terms of the quality of the cuisine.
Booking.com has published a report that reveals that, despite the stress associated with corporate travel, many professionals see it as one of the perks of the job. Half of the people surveyed (50%) state that what they like most about business trips is the opportunity to get to know new cultures or visit a new city (46%).
Thailand, the most hospitable country
A total of 29% of professionals state that Thailand is the most hospitable country for corporate travellers. Of the people surveyed, 28% agreed that Japan is the second most welcoming country to take a business trip, followed by Taiwan (26%), Canada (25%), China (19%) and the United States.
Meanwhile, business travellers consider Germany to be the country with most facilities for this type of trip (28%). Following close behind in second place is Singapore (27%), which was also ranked highest in terms of having the airport from which it is easiest to get into the city (32%).
Italy and France, where visitors eat best
According to the corporate travellers surveyed, the countries in which they eat best are Italy (36%) and France (36%). They were followed in the ranking by Taiwan (27%), Argentina (25%) and, in fifth place, Thailand (25%).
The value of meeting face-to-face
Although business travellers believe that international trips can be stressful (93%), they agree that it is best to meet partners and customers in person. A total of 66% of the professionals surveyed believe that meetings in person between executives enable more solid and sincere relations to be established. In general, 61% prefer the face-to-face meeting with their associates to be away from the office, although, in practice, this only occurs in less than half of the cases. It should be highlighted that the report reveals that corporate travellers from the United Kingdom (71%) and the United States (68%) place the greatest importance on face-to-face meetings.
In addition, more than half of the professionals surveyed state that meetings in person are more productive (56%) and enable solutions to be implemented more quickly (52%) than in other types of meeting. Moreover, 26% believe that a face-to-face meeting leads to better financial results.
Lastly, the report shows that 38% of business travellers are usually satisfied with their trips. The nationalities than display the greatest enthusiasm are the French (30%), followed by the Italians (25%) and professionals from the United States (25%).
The survey was based on 4,500 regular corporate travellers from 8 different countries.
