Travel and business have both evolved over the years. How we travel and engage in business is extremely different to common practices 20 years ago for example. Historically, business has been office orientated – there is a traditional notion of working in an office and carrying out your daily duties within these four walls. Furthermore, travel has historically been primarily either for business or leisure. There were no blurred lines – either you went on vacation with your family to relax, or you went on a business trip to work and attend meetings etc.

In today’s modern society, these lines are becoming blurred and we are seeing a new type of travel venture emerging. Bleisure is currently big business and as this type of travel gains traction and popularity, the travel sector is tailoring its services and packages to accommodate. This article aims to explain the Bleisure phenomenon and help you understand how the travel industry is changing as a result.

What is Bleisure travel?

In simple terms, Bleisure is a combination of Business and Leisure.

Bleisure – Business & Leisure combined

In the workplace, Bleisure is the practice of transforming your workplace into a dual space for business and leisure. Many businesses, particularly in the IT sector, have implemented things such as relaxations rooms that contain sofas, tv’s, pool tables and even video games consoles. The idea behind this is that workers should feel comfortable at their place of employment and have the opportunity to relax.

Bleisure travel takes the same premise but applies it to business trips instead of the workplace. Bleisure is the practice of combining a business trip together with leisure activities and thus creating a hybrid trip where a person may attend a meeting in the morning, and then do some sight-seeing in the afternoon for example. It works on the basis that a business trip doesn’t solely have to be about work and that travellers should make the most of their time when visiting a new and exciting destination.

Let’s say you are travelling to Alicante to attend an important client meeting. When travelling such a long distance, why would you not want to take a little time to visit the Canelobre Caves or climb up the slopes to the Castle of Santa Barbara? Bleisure allows individuals to make the most of their time. Each year more and more people turn to Drivalia for our all-inclusive car hire at one of our six airport locations in Spain in order to have a completely relaxing trip with full peace of mind and to get the most out of their time in Spain combining business with pleasure!

Why is Bleisure travel becoming prevalent in today’s society?

As we mentioned above, traditional business is now becoming a thing of the past. The way in which business is conducted is changing – companies now have access to global markets and can expand their reach past their own countries boundaries. There is a greater need for travel – buyers may travel overseas to view supplier plants, customer may travel abroad to view their merchandise, managers may even attend offices in other parts of the world. The traditional notions of office-based business are going out of the window and being replaced by global business on a much larger scale.

Aside from this, modern lives are becoming increasingly stressful and the average business person may find it difficult to commit to a two-week vacation or take too much time away from work. It is much easier for an individual to simply take an extended Bleisure trip to get the best of both worlds. In short, business and the working world have changed – this, in turn, has changed the way that business trips are conducted and viewed.

As the popularity of Bleisure increases, we should see a greater variety of tailored packages that are tailored specifically for this type of travel – we may even see speciality companies emerge that deal exclusively with Bleisure travel. This is certainly a hot topic and something to look out for in the coming months – don’t forget that Drivalia can offer a fantastic all-inclusive car hire service to complement a Bleisure trip!