The study analysing the cost of hotel rooms and business expenses across global destinations found Swiss city Geneva is the second most expensive place to do business, while London was ranked tenth.
The USA had four locations in the survey’s ten priciest places, while Switzerland also had four cities – Geneva, Zurich, Basel and Bern – ranked near the top, making them the two most expensive countries in the world for business travel.
After New York, Washington DC was ranked fourth, San Francisco seventh and Los Angeles ninth, with the average travel expenses ranging from £618 per day in New York to £446 per day in Los Angeles.
Steven Kilfedder of ECA International, who compiled the report, says: “A big proportion of the cost of business travel to New York can be attributed to the high demand for hotels in the city with a room costing £396 on average.
“These costs in combination with consistently high prices for transport and at many restaurants can make trips to the city extremely expensive.”
Joining Geneva (£553 per day) and London (£444) among the most expensive European cities for business travel were Paris, Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Oslo.
Within the UK, Edinburgh has seen the biggest rise in the cost of business travel compared to last year’s report.
It also notes that Dublin has seen a significant rise in the cost of hotels, now averaging £151 per day, overtaking prices for four-star stays in other European capitals such as Berlin (£146 per night) and Madrid (£149 per night).
Kilfedder commented: “A large number of financial services firms have moved staff and operations to the Irish capital from the UK since Brexit negotiations began, exacerbating the rising costs of business travel in the city.”
In Asia, Hong Kong was found to be the priciest business travel destination for the second year in a row. The approximate price of a business trip to the city is £398 per day, including hotel costs of £221 per night.
Business data analysts ECA published the annual Daily Rates Report, which reviews the average costs for hotel accommodation as well as meals, drinks, laundry, taxi journeys and daily essentials.
