Bleisure travel on the rise

APPROXIMATELY five in every
10 corporate clients (50%) are
incorporating leisure into their
business trips, which is making
agents extra money, TCs report.
Agents agree the figure is an
increase in bleisure bookings
compared with past years.
Steve Byrne of Travel Counsellors
feels the primary reason for the
increase in requests for bleisure
travel is because more agents are
promoting the idea. He adds that,
while a client may not buy into it
for the first two or three trips, if the
agent keeps reminding them, they
eventually will – and then they won’t
stop.
Siobhan Nel, winner of the Best
Travel Counsellor 2016 award,
says bleisure does not only turn
inconvenient trips into pleasurable
stays – it can also benefit a
company financially if the traveller
is willing to compromise. She uses
the example of a trip to Paris: “If
the traveller is willing, they can fly
premium economy for R25 000 and
spend two extra nights in a hotel
for R4 000 to experience the city,
which is more exciting and cheaper
than flying business class for
R40 000 solely for the business
trip. Whether this is allowed will
depend on the company’s travel
policy.”
Another way agents have boosted
their bleisure clientele is by
suggesting they visit popular bucketlist
cities in the same country as
their business trip. Siobhan recently
suggested to a client who flew
to Chicago via JFK that he spend
two nights in New York before the
business trip “He was the only one
at his meeting who didn’t have a
long flight and just one night to
acclimatise. He loved the idea!”