"Bleisure" travel combines business and pleasure for post-pandemic travellers

'Bleisure' travel could be an appealing option for those who must travel for business. Photo / Unsplash

When global travel ground to a halt during the pandemic, business travel dried up right along with it. But data from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) suggests recovery is ahead, even if it looks a little different.

As trips and conferences were swapped for zoom meetings and virtual events, global business travel activity halved in 2020, generating $661 billion compared to $1.43 trillion in 2019.

Figures from GBTA's Business Travel Index estimate this figure will top $1 trillion in 2022, and return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024.

The waning Omicron wave in many major countries is thought to play a large part in the sector's recovery. In a January GBTA poll, most managers (64 per cent) said their employees were "willing" or "very willing" to travel for business.

Similarly, 72 per cent of GBTA members and stakeholders said they would definitely or probably  travel for  business.

However, people should not expect business travel to look exactly as it did pre-pandemic.
Many organisations have benefitted financially from the travel hiatus, meaning they may focus on bundling several events or meetings into a single trip.

"There's a real drive toward that by global corporations — so, trips may be fewer, but they may be longer," said GBTA's CEO, Suzanne Neufang. "So, they're able to get that quarter's meetings with fewer trips overall."

Spending longer in a single place isn't just more efficient but safer when it comes to navigating frequent travel rule changes.

"There's a sense that if you're crossing a border and you don't know if the rules are going to change, it's a lot easier to go there and get all your business done without having to worry about the rules changing," Neufang said.

A typical business trip could also be longer if the trend of "bleisure" travel continues to grow.

Also called 'blended travel', the term describes business trips that are extended for personal travel and relaxation. In a GBTA survey late last year, 82 per cent of corporate travel managers believed their workers would be interested.

Several factors would impact people's willingness to take a bleisure trip according to GBTA's Jeanne Liu, such as age group (millennials are more willing than older generations) and whether the destination is appealing.

"It's opportunistic: it depends if you're going to a place you like and that you want to spend time in."

As tempting as it is to label 'bleisure' as a pandemic creation, the phrase was coined in 2009 and has been steadily rising in popularity since.

Between 2016 and 2018, 60 per cent of business trips were extended into bleisure trips according to Expedia Group Media Solutions.

Given the complexity involved with travel today, the ability to simply add a few days onto an already organised trip is understandably appealing.

Rather than arranging flights, Covid-19 tests and documents for a personal trip, one simply needs to extend accommodation and existing flights.

For Kiwis who will need to enter MIQ or self-isolation upon return, extending a business trip could give them an opportunity to travel they may not have been able to afford.