HRG’s Latin American Forum Points to Continued Business Travel Boom across the Region

Latin America’s booming economy and an influx of foreign investment will underpin rapid growth in business travel across the region over the coming year, according to HRG in Latin America. HRG recently held its inaugural Latin American Forum in Sao Paulo to debate opportunities and challenges for the business travel market in the region.

Delegates at the Forum, which attracted over 200 travel, events and corporate mobility professionals from 15 countries, conceded that regional powerhouses Brazil, Mexico and Argentina remain the key business travel hubs, generating around 75 percent of the region’s business travel volume.

They also stressed however, that less established business travel destinations, notably Peru, Chile and Colombia are experiencing higher than average growth in corporate travel spend. According to GBTA’s Global Business Travel Spending Outlook 2011-2015, Colombia now accounts for 8.2 percent of business travel spending across Latin America, or $3.35bn.

Peter Vargas, Senior Vice President, HRG Latin America, said: “Multinational companies, particularly those in the infrastructure, telecoms and energy industries are recognizing investment opportunities in smaller countries like Colombia, Chile and Peru, where the political and economic situation is stable. Peru’s convenient location is also a factor in its emergence as a business travel hub.

As business travel increases, hotel groups are responding to the demand with significant investment taking place across the region to address capacity issues. Nevertheless, delegates at the Forum identified a significant rise in room rates across Latin America, particularly in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.