FCM Expands Presence In China’s Greater Bay Area

FCM Travel, one of the world’s largest travel management companies, has expanded its footprints into China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA) with a new office and has doubled the size of its team to support its operations in Guangzhou.

FCM first opened their office in Guangzhou in 2004 and will be marking 20 years in China next year.

“GBA is economically and strategically important for our business in China as we have seen a growth of more than 200 per cent in the region, which reflects the potential of the market. This expansion serves as an extension to support our customers in Hong Kong as well as to achieve further synergy within GBA,” said Calvin Xie, General Manager of FCM China.  

“The demand for business travel, meetings, and events remains strong even though airfares and hotel room rates remain high according to FCM Consulting’s Q2-2023 report.”

“We have witnessed the recovery in domestic business travel which shows opportunities within the country. The demand for domestic air travel as of today is just 1 per cent lower than 2019. A key reason for international travel is business and the reopening of China has been the catalyst for global travel resurgence.”

“FCM has made several strategic investments in China to deepen the brand’s presence in the Chinese market. This includes the launch of a proprietary travel management system, FCM Platform, built uniquely for China which gives our customers access to advanced technology. To maintain our superior service, our seasoned travel consultants can converse in both Mandarin and Cantonese which helps them effectively communicate with our customers,” added Xie.

Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX:FLT) recorded a strong profit turnaround during FY23. The diversified global travel company delivered AUD$301.6 million in underlying EBITDA for the 12 months to June 30, 2023 – an almost AUD$485 million turnaround from FY22’s AUD$183.1 million underlying loss.

FLT's corporate travel business continued to out-perform, comfortably out-pacing broader industry recovery and delivering record TTV during FY 23. The AUD$11 billion FY23 result represented 96% YOY growth (FY22: AUD$5.6 billion) and an almost 25% increase on the previous TTV record (FY19: AUD$8.9 billion).