“By presenting unique experiences and activities (…) any destination, hotel, restaurant, attraction, airline (…) can entice business travellers to extend their journey.” Andrew van der Feltz, Senior Director, EMEA & APAC at Expedia Group Media Solutions
More than 60% of all business trips now turn into a private short break, according to the Bleisure survey published by Expedia Group Media Solutions in May 2018. On average, in the five countries surveyed, Bleisure travellers make more than six business trips a year.
The multinational study, conducted by Luth Research on behalf of Expedia, sheds light on the behavior, influences, resources and preferences of American, British, Chinese, German and Indian business travelers who extend their trip privately. 72% said that there are destinations they have visited or will visit in the future for business travel and would like to extend their stay for Bleisure. 56% would consider doing so if they combined the destination with good food and restaurants, and almost as many would cite beaches, weather, nature, historical monuments or sights as motives.
“By presenting unique experiences and activities that play an important role in decision-making, any destination, hotel, restaurant, attraction, airline and more can entice business travelers to extend their trip,” said Andrew van der Feltz, Senior Director, EMEA & APAC at Expedia Group Media Solutions.
Research via topic-specific websites
Business travellers whose trips last two or three nights are currently most likely to extend their trip for private purposes (50%). In addition, for business travelers whose business destination is more than 400 miles from home it is 49%. The main factors influencing a Bleisure decision includes travelling to a destination with good entertainment (48%) and visiting an iconic destination or a destination on their personal bucket list (43%). Good accessibility, proximity to weekends and additional personal costs for an extension of leisure time are also important factors in the decision.
Once the decision to travel has been made, around 80% of Bleisure travellers spend one to five hours on research and planning, less time than for traditional leisure travel. 68% use search engines, 47% travel-related websites as well as review sites and 44% destination websites. Finally, most Bleisure travellers book their accommodation personally (61%), air fares (42%) and food (38%) for the leisure part of the trip.
Stay and go
Where are we headed in particular? Two thirds of past Bleisure trips have so far been in the same city as the business trip. But again, more than 80% of Bleisure travellers are willing to travel from their business destination. More than half of them would be willing to travel one to two hours by car and one to two hours by plane for this purpose – the latter are not for domestic trips (25%). At the same time, coach travel is not attractive for 38% who travel domestically.
Compared to a typical holiday, 57% of bleisure travellers spend the same amount or more on a bleisure trip, and over 75% save specifically for bleisure trips. Credit cards (69%), cash (47%) and ATM or debit cards (44%) are the preferred means of payment during a Bleisure trip. More than two-thirds of Bleisure expenditure is spent on hotel, flights and meals for the leisure part of the trip.
The study once again comes to the same conclusion: Bleisure knows no boundaries. Bleisure travel on domestic trips is almost as likely as on international business trips. And travelers are willing to travel even further for their leisure time from their business destination.
Bleisure travellers are also more flexible: as they cannot book everything in advance, they are open to short-term decisions on location regarding restaurants, tours and activities, entertainment and transport.
Quelle: Expedia Group Media Solutions
Fotos: © iStock.com/narvikk, Expedia Group Media Solutions
