Travel has been trending big in the last few years and thanks to the social media and its obsession with pictures. Travel is one thing on every millennial’s bucket list. But, unlike the earlier generations, the savvy millennials like to combine business with pleasure to squeeze out the most from their business engagements.
Life is short and youth even shorter. It’s sensible to go for the bucket list and start checking things on it before you are too old to move anywhere but to the front garden. For the last few years, one travel trend climbing the popularity charts has been bleisure.
If you are worrying what it stands for and if it is something fancy that you missed out on, don’t worry. We have all been there and done it some time in our lives. Remember when you extended your business trip through the long weekend and stayed on after a tough conference? If yes, then, youv’e been there and done that.
A bleisure trip combines a business travel trip with leisure travel, usually by adding a few days on before or after the work is done.
Bleisure travel has become a commonly-used term for travelers who combine business trip with a leisure holiday.
The trend is now also being welcomed by organizations that see it as a stress-buster for executives in a highly competitive environment. Many are actually tying up with travel portals or travel arrangers to extend business trips at discounted costs for their travelling executives who can then pick up the option and pay for the leisure part themselves.
With the drop in ticket prices worldwide, many are also taking their spouses on the business trips and indulging in luxury travels once the business gets done. The lure of spending an extra Saturday and flying out on a heavily discounted ticket on a Sunday is often a bait few can resist.
Another statistic reports that the longer the distance or time taken to travel, more are the chances of extending the vacation.
This trend though not new has now caught up with the fancy set including CEOs and senior executives who have deep pockets and the means to indulge in luxury when travelling.
It’s also been a big boost for the travel service providers from hotels to local eateries to local tourist attractions. The trend breaks the seasonal barriers as business travelers travel all-season.
For hoteliers and travel suppliers, bleisure travelers offer a clear opportunity to increase revenues from business travelers on extended stays. Instead of booking the travelling business persons into modern hotels in the center of the city, they are booked into resorts and destination hotels or at Bed and Breakfast options in upmarket localities in the hub of the cultural centers of the cities where they can get more out of their stay and enjoy the off hours exploring and unwinding.
Travel businesses are now actively-wooing these bleisure-seekers with attractive weekend packages. The target though is the young millennial crowd that according to trends occupies almost 15% of the bleisure segment.
Bleisure is now also being looked at as an effective employee benefit. In a recent survey quoted in a business trade magazine, 78% of respondents agreed that adding leisure days to a business trip added value to work assignments.
It definitely provides much-needed respite to professionals who are often under great stress during business trips.
In India bleisure destinations that are at the top of the list include, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Hong Kong, Turkey as well as London, which are the obvious financial and industrial hubs that offer excellent leisure facilities like, top-of-the-line restaurants, shopping opportunities, theatres and theme parks.
The Indian destinations popular for bleisure trips include, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Kochi, as these cities offer great leisure facilities besides being corporate hubs.