While Australia’s east coast attracts most corporate travellers, Sydney has always been the business travel hub. However, a boost in bookings could see another city take over as the go-to destination for corporates as overall volume to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne increased by 12 per cent in the first half of 2024.
The latest data from Flight Centre Travel Group’s corporate division highlights a 12 per cent rise in flight bookings across all three cities for 1H24 compared to the same period last year.
FCM Travel and Corporate Traveller found the business travel hub of Melbourne recorded a larger share of arrivals between the three cities at 38 per cent (up from 36% in 2023), while Sydney attracted 39 per cent (down from 40% in 2023) and Brisbane remained the same at 23 per cent.
FCTG Corporate COO Melissa Elf said the domestic air capacity recovery and new routes have resulted in more business travellers than ever between the three cities with Melbourne shaping up as the top business travel hub in Australia.
“Sydney has long been the corporate travel darling, but it is shaping up to be a particularly strong year for travel into Melbourne, buoyed by ‘bleisure’ travel,” she said, citing major event drawcards in the Victorian capital during the first half of 2024, such as the Australian Open, Taylor Swift and Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
“During periods such as these, we saw a huge jump in corporate crowds, who were looking to get among the action by working in business meetings and events to their trips.”
Elf also pointed to Brisbane’s potential as a burgeoning business travel hub, a destination of choice for corporate headquarters and Australia’s bleisure capital ahead of the 2032 Olympic & Paralympic Games.
“Brisbane will go from strength to strength as it continues to benefit from both public and private investment ahead of the 2032 Games,” she said.
By 2026, BITRE’s Air Passenger Movement Report forecasts a 4.5 per cent average annual growth rate of passenger movements in Brisbane Airport, higher than the four per cent average annual growth rate predicted for Sydney and Melbourne Airports.
Across all three airports, that’s a total of 38 million passengers passing through in 2026.
“It’s evident across our corporate customer base that travel is non-discretionary and falling airfares both domestically and internationally will keep demand for business travel strong against the backdrop of economic pressures,” Elf added.
