GBTA: Business Travel Generated $283B in Economic Activity Across 25 Global Cities in 2024

# What the study measured Association (GBTA), with Rockport Analytics, analyzed 2024 data for 25 leading business destinations. The study counts direct spending by domestic and international business travelers while in a city for work, then traces the downstream economic activity that spending generates across local supply chains, wages and taxes.

# Top-line numbers Business travelers spent $178 billion across the 25 cities in 2024. When indirect and induced effects are included, the study reports $283 billion in total economic activity. That direct spending supported about 1.4 million jobs, contributed $93 billion to local GDP, produced nearly $54 billion in wages, and generated $55 billion in tax revenue.

# How much impact each dollar delivers Across the 25 cities combined, each dollar of business travel spending produced an estimated $1.59 in total local sales, $0.52 in GDP contribution, and $0.31 in tax revenue. On average, each $1 billion of business travel spending supported roughly 7,800 jobs, although the jobs-per-dollar outcome varied widely by market.

# City concentration and rankings Seven cities—New York, Tokyo, London, Shanghai, Paris, Los Angeles and Chicago—each exceeded $10 billion in business travel spending in 2024 and together accounted for $108 billion, or 61% of the total across the 25 cities.

Other notable markets in the next tier included Washington DC ($9.4B), San Francisco ($6.9B), Amsterdam ($5.6B), Singapore ($5.2B), Frankfurt ($4.7B), and Sydney ($4.7B). Several cities—Delhi, Helsinki, Oslo, Dubai and São Paulo—recorded business travel spending between $1.5B and $2.4B.

# Why outcomes differ across cities

• New York converted $1 of business travel spending into $1.76 in local economic activity, the highest among the 25 cities, reflecting its service-oriented economy.
• Los Angeles followed at $1.68 per dollar.

• Cities with lower wages and more labor-intensive sectors (Delhi and Mexico City) generated far more jobs per $1 billion of spending than the study average.

# What drives spending in particular cities Different spending patterns and travel behaviors explain part of the variation. London showed high daily spend per business traveler and elevated premium air ticket contribution, signaling a large international executive traffic share. Shanghai recorded the highest group hotel room demand among the 25 cities, while Stockholm and Oslo logged the strongest growth in group room demand in 2024.

# Takeaway The GBTA city-level analysis quantifies the local economic footprint of business travel and shows that most of the spending concentrates in a handful of major global hubs. The multiplier effects—on sales, wages, jobs and tax revenue—depend strongly on each city's economic structure and tax systems.