BUSINESS TRAVEL
B
leisure – the practice of combining business and leisure travel into one trip – can be an effective way to incentivise and reward staff without incurring significant extra costs.
It can also be used to recruit and retain the hard-to-reach
Millennial generation, who value work flexibility and autonomy above traditional workplace perks or salary increases. It can boost productivity and be a powerful tool for diversity and inclusion. Bleisure is a trend that has not gone unnoticed among
companies and forward-thinking HR departments, which are trying to recruit Gen Yers. A survey in 2017 by
Booking.com found that 30% of employees would accept a lower-paying job if it gave them the opportunity to travel. (
http://bit.ly/bleisuretravel- keytohappieremployees) Millennials value flexibility and the opportunity to work abroad far more than a simple pay rise.
THE RISE OF THE BLEISURE INDUSTRY
REWARDS FOR STAFF: An increasing number of companies are combining business trips with pleasure as a reward for their employees to see more of the world, while also being paid to do so. Businesses can use bleisure as a way of rewarding staff at all levels of the company – not just the top – thereby boosting diversity and inclusion, and making all staff feel valued.
NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES: An example is tech start- up Proxyclick, which every year relocates its entire team of more than 30 staff from Brussels, New York and other locations to meet up in a European city for a week. In November 2018, it was Athens. It’s a time for colleagues to explore the city, while getting to know one another.
COMBINING PERSONAL TIME WITH BUSINESS TRIPS: According to research by Expedia Group Media Solutions, 60% of global corporate travellers extend their trips to add on leisure
activities. Having the opportunity to take personal time at the end of a working trip can boost productivity and well-being among staff, without the business incurring additional costs.
A DEMAND FOR FLEXIBLE ACCOMMODATION: With travellers taking an average of six business trips a year, this has implications for the hospitality industry, which has yet to embrace the concept fully.
INCREASED OCCUPANCY: When business and leisure are combined in a single trip, the length of the stay can almost double. This has implications for hotels and serviced apartments, as the traveller is likely to have to pay for their own accommodation costs once the working part of the trip has finished. The Expedia study found that 72% of respondents said there
were destinations they have visited or will visit in the future for business that they would like to extend for bleisure.
A GLOBAL TREND: Interest in bleisure is not just confined to travellers from the UK, US and Europe. Travellers from India spend the longest time on a business trip (an average of five days) and add the most leisure days on top (an extra four days), while Chinese business travellers spend an average of just 3.4 days away on each trip (as do those from the UK) and add just two extra days of sightseeing – the least of those nationalities surveyed. See chart below.
There is an opportunity here for providers to offer deals to
travellers. An employee may prefer to stay in accommodation at their own expense, but might not have the same budget to spend as they would if the room was being paid for by their company. It is a trend that hotel chains and apartment providers can
capitalise on. A Wex/Mastercard survey released in January, (
http://bit.ly/wexinc-2019traveltrends) 2019 Travel Trends and Expectations, found that the sharing economy was shaking up
Expedia group media solutions: Unpacking Bleisure Traveler Trends
http://bit.ly/expediagroup-bleisuretrends
18 | RELOCATE | SPRING 2019
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