Everyone involved in the travel industry knows that the bleisure trend is here to stay, and will continue to play an increasingly important role in how corporate employees choose to travel for business. As corporate travel professionals, the TravelManor team takes care to stay on top of all emerging travel trends, so we may advise our valued clients of shifts in the market that has the potential to alter the business journey landscape.
As such, we were delighted when Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, a major industry roleplayer and renowned source of actionable statistics, published their most recent findings on the bleisure trend and what it means for travelling corporates in 2018. Here’s a concise summary of the key takeouts from their latest round of surveys in this regard:
Not all business journeys are created equal, so one of the main points that Expedia tried to clarify was when exactly corporate travellers started to view a journey as extensive enough to warrant an add-on leisure component. According to the statistics gleaned from the survey, the line in the sand is drawn at 2+ nights, and 600+ km from their starting destination. I.e. As soon as an employee is spending more than 2 nights away, or travels more than 600 km from home, they are ready to call it a trip and add on some leisure activities.
Another interesting finding was that travellers are as likely to turn a local trip into a bleisure adventure, as they are to extend an international journey. American, British, Chinese, German, and Indian business travellers are all equally as positive about the prospect of exploring their own countries, as they are about discovering foreign destinations.
Some of the main factors that has the potential to motivate a travelling employee to extend their business trip include whether:
With these illuminating findings in mind, the TravelManor team is ready to promote an agile approach to business travel that will allow companies across all industries to leverage bleisure as an incentivising tool that can serve to bolster employee retention and engagement, while still adhering to existing travel policies and financial boundaries. That’s a win-win for all involved! Feel free to get in touch with our passionate team of travel consultants if you want to learn more about putting bleisure theory into practice.
