Air traffic from India to China grew 17.9% in the first six months of this year, beating overall international travel growth from the country, which stood at 10.9%, according to a report in ET by Anindya Upadhyay. If this trend continues, China will soon overtake Singapore as the most favoured destination on the itinerary of Indian businessmen and executives.

In the past few months, several Indian pharma and IT companies and investment banks have set up shop in China, boosting travel between the two countries. This is in addition to about 400 Indian companies, including IT majors such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS, power producers like Adani Power and Suzlon, and automobile maker M&M, that already have a presence in China.

The majority of this segment constitutes business travelers, he added. China is already India's largest trade partner. Commerce between the two countries has grown 20-fold in the past decade, touching $61.7 billion in 2010. In the first half of this year, trade volumes between the two crossed $35 billion, posting a year-on-year growth of 16.1%. Economists say as the Indian and Chinese economies expand in the coming years, trade between the two would see a significant increase.

Analysts say the aviation sector would be among the biggest beneficiaries of the growth in bilateral trade.  Singapore was rated the most visited destination by both business and leisure travelers from India by Nielsen Outbound Travel Monitor in 2010.