Combining business and leisure travel is not a new phenomenon—we were gifted the portmanteau ‘bleisure’ back in 2009—but in the post-pandemic era of remote work and travel-starved employees seeking greater work-life balance, bleisure travel has been given a new lease on life.
A 2022 industry poll conducted by the Global Business Travel Association found that two in five travel managers (41 percent) reported an increase in the desire for blended or bleisure travel among employees.
One estimate holds that in 2022 blended travel had a market value of $497.5 billion, and some experts insist that providing support for bleisure travel can be an important tool in attracting and retaining talent.
What does this mean for travel managers? And is there value in thinking beyond business travel for a managed travel program?
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