Aussies making the most out of business travel

Recent studies show Australians are enjoying the benefits of business travel, with extended stays outpacing global counterparts.

Dubbed the “bleisure boom”, Australian employees embarking on business travel have reported an average stay of six nights. This is almost double the 3.5-night global average.

The data was revealed in a Corporate Traveller study, which identified a growing appetite for business travel in Australia. Nights away by business travellers across the country have increased by 5 per cent.

Bleisure, or business leisure, is a great way to combine work and play. The phenomenon has seen increased popularity over the last few years, with Corporate Traveller noting that 62 per cent of travellers blend business and travel more than they did in 2019, and 79 per cent choose to stay at the same accommodation for both work and play.

Could this increase be a hangover from the pandemic, with people wanting to venture out after years cooped up? Tom Walley, global managing director at Corporate Traveller, commented on the rise in popularity.

“Prior to the pandemic, mixing business with pleasure while away for work was a real luxury and not necessarily the done thing, but that has all changed in the last couple of years. Corporates have now realised that extending trips for themselves or having their family come along to join them after a trip has ended is a great way to build upon health and wellness in the workplace,” said Walley.

“Given we’ve witnessed an increase of 5 per cent in the average business trip length in Australia, it’s clear a rise in bleisure travel is behind it, and our ability to work remotely and capitalise on extending trips – especially for meetings, events, and conferences – play a big role in this.”

Business travel budgets across the country have also seen a sharp rise. Australia’s total business travel spending (BTS) forecast for 2023 was put at US$23,519 million, up from US$18,538 million in 2022. Clearly, there’s a strong and increasing demand.

The most popular industry for corporate travellers in Australia was education. Other sectors like utilities, construction, and transportation also showed large bleisure numbers. Conversely, industries such as real estate, retail, and finance are less likely to blend work trips with leisure time.

According to Walley, a possible reason for the increase in bleisure is the rising cost of living. With less money to spend on extravagant holidays, people are combining their careers and downtime.

Walley concluded: “This data also delivers a valuable insight into Australian business travel trends, providing organisations an opportunity to cater to the evolving needs of their employee’s business travel requirements. The bleisure travel trend isn’t going anywhere, and given the growth we’ve recorded, it’s clear we need to ensure we’re continuing to meet that demand.”

These themes follow similar trends witnessed at the end of 2023, where bleisure also saw an increase in popularity.

A BBC article supports this claim, noting that one in three business travellers will add bleisure to their trip. “It’s people from all different levels: we thought it might be more entry-level, but we found managerial does it as well, although we did find Millennials more likely to partake in bleisure than some of their older colleagues. It’s opportunistic: it depends if you’re going to a place you like and that you want to spend time in,” said Jeanne Liu of the Global Business Travel Association.