The latest China Business Travel Survey result released by American Express shows that despite the impact of the global financial crisis, China's business travel market has shown growth in times of adversity.

The financial crisis has meant that many Chinese enterprises have invested in less business travel, but they have never stopped traveling. In 2009, 29% of the companies surveyed have increased expenditure in this area, showing a decline compared with a 43% increase in 2008. And 55% of the companies surveyed indicate that their expenditure is basically the same as that of last year, while only 16% report a reduction in expenditure.

The survey also shows that most enterprises in China are now tightening their monitoring and control of travel expenditure.

In the past 12 months, enterprises have attached more importance to managing existing customer relationships rather than in developing new clients using travel and entertainment expenses.