Have you ever extended a business trip just to soak in the sights or unwind? If so, you’ve already experienced bleisure travel — a concept blending business with leisure that’s reshaping how we travel. Bleisure reflects the increasingly blurred lines between personal and professional life.
Business travel company TravelPerk has found that nearly 60% of business travellers now incorporate leisure activities into their work trips, making it a rapidly growing trend in the travel industry.
This trend goes a step further than bringing your partner on a work trip to spend some more time together. If a particular destination is attractive, professionals from all over the world are adding weekends or even weeks to their business trips. This is how the notion of bleisure came into existence and is currently something many take advantage of. From the digital nomad who moves every few months to a new destination to the work-at-home consultant who can afford it from every part of the world, digital technologies keep dissolving the boundaries between work and leisure.
Bleisure is a perk and a way to encourage professionals away on business to explore new locations and get the most out of their trip once they have finished their workday, bringing multiple benefits:
- Cost: Travellers can explore the location they have been sent to for work at their own leisure and at a reduced budget, since businesses cover primary costs, such as flights and accommodation.
- Cultural understanding: Travel is the perfect way to experience local traditions and to gain insights into local culture which could later on be applied to develop business relationships and strengthen partnerships with clients.
- Sustainability: Allowing employees to spend time exploring while already there makes them less likely to travel to this destination themselves. Additionally, companies are optimizing business trips to maximize their value but also address sustainability concerns by packing more activities such as meetings, networking events, and training sessions into one trip to make it more productive and cost-effective.
Even though the perks of bleisure are hard to ignore, things may become rather complex when separating the personal from the professional. For example, when travelling abroad employees should be mindful about their expenses and security. Moreover, depending on the location, employees and employers have to take into account whether the visa obtained allows for all the activities of the two sides.
