CHINA could become the world's largest market for business travel as early as next year, according to a new report from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). The industry-group expects spending on business travel there to increase by 16.5% in 2014, more than twice as fast as GDP is forecast to grow. In 2015 it projects a 17.8% increase. That would bring total spending to $309.8 billion, and likely allow it to leapfrog America (the American market was worth $259 billion in 2012, according to the US Travel Association). As usual, some caveats are in order. China's population is several times larger than America's, so it will be a long time before its per capita business-travel spending draws even. And the vast majority of expenditure—an estimated 95%—is on domestic trips, so brands that don't have a presence in the country will have a hard time capturing a share.

Still, passing America would represent an important milestone. It will no doubt cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth about that country's decline when it does finally happen. But despite the inevitable anxiety, it is a good thing for business travellers—not least because it will encourage continued infrastructure improvements in China, as GBTA highlighted in a press release:

Over the last decade China’s largest airports have doubled in size and the construction of additional airports continues including Beijing’s second international airport, slated to begin this year and open in 2018. It will house half a dozen civilian runways—double the number at Beijing’s current airport relieving a tremendous amount of pressure on Beijing Capital International Airport, currently the second busiest airport in the world (ranked by passenger volume). In addition to airports, the latest available data from Lodging Econometrics (2013Q2) shows China had 1,695 hotel projects in the pipeline amounting to 435,000 additional rooms, hitting another historical peak.

Better airports and more hotel rooms will benefit foreigners and locals alike. Perhaps losing its crown will even convince America to spend a bit of money improving its own infrastructure. Well, we can dream.