The 10 Most Expensive Destinations for Business Travel
Geneva is once again the most expensive location in Europe for business travelers, according to research by global mobility experts, ECA International (ECA).
On average, the total cost of a standard business trip to Geneva is GBP 554 a day, compared to GBP 448 in London.
“Swiss cities once again dominate the most expensive places for business trips in Europe, with five different locations in the top ten,” said Simon Franklin, Daily Rates Manager at ECA International. “Switzerland has always been an expensive nation for business travel, and this year is no different as the Swiss franc has performed very strongly.”
ECA’s Daily Rates report reviews the average costs for hotel accommodation - which makes up the bulk of any daily allowance - as well as meals, drinks, laundry, taxi transport and daily essentials. This information is used by companies to determine daily expense allowances for staff undertaking international business travel.
London has seen a drop in the rankings, as have all the UK locations included in the list. The UK capital has dropped out of the top ten most expensive locations in the world for business travel, overtaken by Monaco, Basel and Paris this year. London is now also in sixth place in Europe, down from third the year before.
Franklin said: “Whilst the price of business travel to London has remained relatively static over the past few years, the strong performance of the euro in the past year has seen costs in other cities such as Paris and Monaco overtake the UK capital. The cost of business travel in the UK overall has continued to fall, with every surveyed UK location seeing a drop in the table.”
“Aberdeen especially illustrates the sudden drop in cost for business travel to the UK, falling from 13th to 39th in the European rankings in just two years. This has been exacerbated by the recent downturn in the oil and gas industry which has led to a reduction in demand for business travel to the area, as well as having an impact on the local economy.”
New York is the only location in the world more expensive for business travel than Geneva.
The price of hotels in London and Paris is much higher than anywhere in Europe, with the exception of some Swiss locations.
|
Location
|
2018 ranking
|
2017 ranking
|
|---|---|---|
|
Geneva, Switzerland
|
1
|
1
|
|
Zurich, Switzerland
|
2
|
2
|
|
Paris, France
|
3
|
4
|
|
Basel, Switzerland
|
4
|
6
|
|
Monaco
|
5
|
8
|
|
London, UK
|
6
|
3
|
|
Lugano, Switzerland
|
7
|
7
|
|
Bern, Switzerland
|
8
|
5
|
|
Reykjavik, Iceland
|
9
|
14
|
|
Copenhagen, Denmark
|
10
|
11
|
|
Location
|
2018 ranking
|
2017 ranking
|
|---|---|---|
|
New York, USA
|
1
|
1
|
|
Geneva, Switzerland
|
2
|
2
|
|
Zurich, Switzerland
|
3
|
3
|
|
Luanda, Angola
|
4
|
4
|
|
Bridgetown, Barbados
|
5
|
5
|
|
Paris, France
|
6
|
10
|
|
Nassau, Bahamas
|
7
|
6
|
|
Washington DC, USA
|
8
|
7
|
|
Basel, Switzerland
|
9
|
12
|
|
Monaco
|
10
|
|
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