China's business travel market volume increased by 20 percent in 2012 and is expected to overtake the United States to become the world's largest business travel market in 2015, a global accommodations company said yesterday.

"China has huge demand for business travel since executives from domestic enterprises need to travel outside the country, while global CEOs also need to fly to China for business opportunities," said Jiang Jun, managing director of business travel section with HRS.

Annual expenditure among mainland business travelers will total 36.5 billion yuan (US$5.88 billion) by then, predicts the report from HRS.

Business travel expenditure has been increasing dramatically on the Chinese mainland in recent years. It increased by more than 20 percent yearly to 24.5 billion yuan in 2012 and will rise more quickly this year.