Workaholic Singaporeans: 82% of business travellers work until midnight

And the figure conscious 53% like going to the gym on their trips.

According to a release, in terms of the most hardworking, business travellers, Chinese (82%) and Singaporean (82%) are chart-toppers with Hong Kong third at 75%. Both Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s executives work most often in the hotel during the 21:00 to Midnight period. Likewise, Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s business travellers are the same in terms of hitting the gym (53%), with Indian business travellers leading the gym visits at 64%.

Accor has revealed the findings of its Accor Asia Pacific Business Traveller Research 2011, which seeks to better understand the travel and behavioural preferences of business travellers based in Asia Pacific. The survey interviewed over 10,000 respondents who made business trips in the first half of the year.

Based on data collected, Singapore and Hong Kong (both 38%) were the destinations most frequently travelled to during the first half and both cities appeared in the “Top 3” destinations for business travellers from all the key markets surveyed. Thailand was ranked third (29%) on inbound business trips made in the first half of 2011. For intended travel in the second half of 2011, Singapore and Hong Kong are neck and neck at 39% and 38% respectively. Thailand and China are joint third at 29%.

China leads the way, with more than half of the executives from the Mainland reporting that they have visited Hong Kong in H1 (73%) or have the intention of doing so in H2 (72%). The results suggest that Hong Kong still serves as an invaluable business gateway for entities looking to do business with the Mainland and vice versa. Its continued relevance comes despite the growing stature of different cities in China, as business hubs themselves.

Likewise, 68% of Indonesian executives surveyed cited Singapore as the predominant Business Travel destination. These are consistent with the observations that besides these two cities, the other country in the Top 3 for the key Asia Pacific markets tends to be the closest geographical neighbor (e.g. New Zealand for Australia business travellers and vice versa, Singapore for Malaysia business travellers etc).

Said Evan Lewis, Vice President, Communications – Accor Asia Pacific, ‘‘Based on findings from our survey, business travellers have told us that Singapore is expected to be the top business travel destination in the second half of 2011, thus reinforcing the city’s position as a key business hub for Asia Pacific.’’

Another interesting observation is that though Singapore ranks second in destinations more frequented by Hong Kong’s business travellers in the first half of 2011. Singapore business travellers do not reciprocate in this aspect with Hong Kong ranking fourth. External business matters (as compared to other purposes such as internal business matters and attending trade shows) is the overriding purpose for trips into Singapore (46%) and Hong Kong (44%).

In terms of outbound travel, business travellers from Hong Kong have cited China as the primary business travel destination with 79% of those interviewed making trips there in H1. The findings are consistent with the suggestion of Hong Kong’s unique position to China. For Singapore, both Malaysia and Thailand emerged as the top destinations for the first half (57% and 49%).

Hong Kong’s business executives were ranked fourth with outbound business travel volumes averaging 6.8 regional trips in H1. Singapore’s business executives come in third with outbound business travel averaging 7.1. Both cities were above the typical business traveller in Asia Pacific who averaged 6.3 in the first half.

Location is 'King' in Hotel Choice for business travellers across all regions. Other important factors to the Singapore business traveller are favourable past experience (25%) and competitive pricing (23%). On the other hand Hong Kong business travellers are influenced by the hotel brand (23%) and pricing (21%). Findings seem to indicate that Singapore’s business travellers are more loyal to hotel properties and rank previous experience as second, whereas Hong Kong’s executives come across as more brand conscious.

Quality of interest service and food and beverage selections rank highly on the list of expectations for both Hong Kong and Singapore business travellers. Budget wise, there is no clear distinction between Hong Kong’s executives, who are third at an average of US$132 per room night and Singapore’s business travellers who are at US$134. Business travellers from Australia are the highest spenders at US$158.

The research also uncovered that business executives are more likely to choose a hotel that is more environmentally conscious (67% for Hong Kong executives and 52% for Singapore executives) and are willing to pay an average of 10% premium to stay with a hotel with a superior environmental commitment to a similar standard hotel in the same location (63% for Hong Kong executives and 53% for Singapore executives). This points to the growing environmental consciousness of executives, possibly brought about by the awareness of the carbon footprint generated by business travel.

Though Singapore’s and Hong Kong’s business travellers come across as ‘cousins’ based on the lines of parallel drawn, as business travel destinations, both cities are fundamentally different. Hong Kong is to China and North East Asia as Singapore is as a centre of business activity for the South East Asia region, which has ramifications on their respective business traveller market origins and the habits of travelling.