Bleisure Travel Trends: Let鈥檚 Talk Mixing Business With Leisure
Did you catch Dana鈥檚 blog on 2019 Corporate Travel Trends? The very first trend listed was bleisure, and we stand by our proclamation: 鈥淏leisure is here to stay.鈥�
In fact, we鈥檝e been hearing more and more about it lately, and perhaps, partaking of a little bleisure ourselves. So, our team decided to dive deeper into this hot topic and present the significant bleisure travel trends you can no longer ignore.
鈥淲hat the <bleep> is bleisure?鈥�
That鈥檚 what we said, at first. Turns out, 鈥渂leisure鈥� is a portmanteau (fancy French for a blended word) of the words 鈥渂usiness鈥� and 鈥渓eisure.鈥� The Expedia Group Media Solutions report defines it as 鈥渢he practice of combining business travel and leisure travel into one trip.鈥�
Employers are embracing bleisure as an element of their employees creating a better work/life balance. Employees can maximize business travel to new and interesting destinations by extending them into bleisure trips and enjoying them longer, and on a personal level.
And if you鈥檙e responsible for marketing a tourism destination or other travel or hospitality brand, another way to spell it would be 鈥�$$$$$.鈥� Why shouldn鈥檛 you waste another minute raking in your share of this ever-growing travel market…?
鈥淏leisure is booming!鈥�
Expedia Group Media Solutions, the advertising arm of that global network of online travel brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Hotwire and lots more, tapped into 2,500 bleisure travelers from five countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, India and China).
Their findings: In the previous year, an average 60% of business trips turned into bleisure鈥攁 nearly 40% increase over the year before that. Most bleisure travelers, spanning a range of occupations, go on 6+ business trips per year, with about equal likelihood of domestic and international travel turning into bleisure.
Time for a 鈥渂leisure breakdown.鈥�
You should know the following about your potential bleisure customers:
鈥� Leisure days almost double the length of bleisure trips
鈥� Over 2/3 of bleisure spending goes to hotel, airfare and dining (hotel is 32%)
鈥� Business trips 2+ nights, far from home, are most likely to convert to bleisure
鈥� 鈥淕reat entertainment/activity city鈥� and 鈥淏ucket list/must visit location鈥� are the top leading factors for extending
鈥� 65% are solo bleisure travelers; 64% are not headed to see family or friends
鈥� Bleisure travelers devote less time to research than they would for leisure travel, so you have to act faster to target and persuade them
鈥� But! Because not everything鈥檚 always booked in advance, you also have a good chance of reaching and converting them during their trips, particularly for products like dining, entertainment, tours, activities and transportation
Your customers are planning their next bleisure trip right now.
We鈥檝e been tracking the bleisure travel segment for a while and helping our clients attract and capitalize on this lucrative opportunity. Say today鈥檚 the day to unleash your bleisure travel sales potential with the right bleisure travel marketing strategy. Email Lynn Kaniper at lkaniper@danacommunications.com鈥攐r call 609.466.9187, ext. 117鈥攖o find out how.