“Bleisure” is a trend born in the field of business travel that received an unsurpassed boost following the pandemic. To fully understand what it is, just identify the English words that give life to this neologism: "business" and "leisure" (free time). In fact, bleisure is a trend that consists of extending your stay in business trip destinations, taking advantage of it to discover local places and culture. As Travel Weekly points out, it looks like bleisure is back to stay; so if you haven't already addressed mixed travel in your travel policy, now might be the time to do so.
The pandemic has awakened people's awareness of how important it is to reconcile work life and personal well-being . In this context, the tourism sector presents itself as a special incentive to balance professional commitments and relaxation, especially if the final destinations are not immune to jet leg! Furthermore, people now expect personalized experiences, tailored to their needs; and for business travelers being able to take advantage of dedicated leisure opportunities, even during a business trip, is a very satisfying incentive for themselves and their professional enthusiasm. That's why in 2023 the concept of “bleisure” has continued to grow and evolve . Among the factors that influence this change are working flexibility and the help of technologies which demonstrate how the business travel sector is very healthy, because it is highly flexible.
Italians are particularly interested in bleisure.
According to Travel in Flux , a report created by Alvarez & Marsal, 27% of Italians have strengthened the trend of bleisure travel over the last 12 months. Of the 3,800 workers interviewed, 45% extended their work trip by a few days to discover the location beyond their professional commitments. If the propensity of Italian travelers is particularly slender, vice versa the budget available for business trips is the lowest in the European Union. The same research highlighted how important sustainability is in terms of bleisure. In fact, two thirds of the sample say they are willing to pay more for structures or means of transport that meet ecological and sustainable criteria. Yet, ESG principles still appear not to be the priority in the face of prices.
Factors that encourage bleisure:
The development of bleisure enjoys positive push from some favorable factors.
- Flexible working . The spread of smart working has changed the working perspective, paving the way for the concept of even more efficient productivity if workers are put in a position to relax and enjoy some healthy free time even when traveling. Especially some locations are quite attractive when it comes to combining work and pleasure. The ideal destinations for bleisure are cities with a strong corporate vocation and with great cultural or natural riches.
- Technology and connectivity . In fact, technology plays a key role in bleisure, thanks to apps and services that facilitate travel planning and management of timing and obviously expenses; for example: which items are covered by the travel policy and which are not in case of bleisure? Again, cutting-edge cities that guarantee access to excellent internet connections are prime destinations for the bleisure market.
- Company policies . Some companies have started to officially recognize bleisure as part of their travel policy. More and more companies are offering greater opportunities and flexibility to employees to stay a few more days at the travel destinations, after work commitments.
The advantages of bleisure for employees and companies.
When travel is a requirement of an employee's professional life, it can significantly reduce their free time available for hobbies and family. However, a trip can also be an enticing opportunity to explore a new city and attend a cultural or sporting event, without the added costs and effort of booking a separate trip. For its part, the company can also gain an important benefit from the satisfaction of its traveling staff.
Among the advantages on the employer side, there is, as already mentioned, the increase in employee job satisfaction and loyalty, the reduction of the stress of business trips and the increase in motivation. But not secondarily comes the potential saving on the costs of business travel and greater attraction to potential talents who would be enticed by the prospect of bleisure trips promoted by the employer.
While there may be tangible benefits, the trend is also creating complexity, both for those who manage bookings and who may receive an increase in requests to “add an extra day”, and especially for those who write and implement travel policies . At first glance, companies may find these simple changes to an employee's trip irrelevant, however there are some serious considerations that need to be made to ensure travelers know their financial and travel responsibilities and that companies protect themselves from potential risks financial, legal or even reputational costs.
Travel and bleisure: Alma Travel's tools to comply with the travel policy.
Alma Travel, as a travel agency specializing in Business Travel , helps companies optimize the budget available for employee travel . This is even more true today when business trips are no longer conceived as simple "travels" from one place to another, but rather as experiences during which business is combined with pleasure, especially in terms of bleisure. The risk of wasting resources is always around the corner; this is why it is important to have tools available that allow you to control the boundary between allowed and extra expenses, but without compromising travel productivity and employee satisfaction. Alma Travel, with its platform tailored to the customer's needs and its travel policy, guarantees a cutting-edge system to reduce costs and optimize choices without compromising the well-being of employees and the protection of the environment. In fact, the technology made available to our customers not only allows them to choose the most responsible alternative, but provides periodic reports to evaluate the overall impact of company travel on the environment.