Pulse August 2017 | Page 18

PULSE POINTS BLEISURE: A New Category of Travel ave you ever been tempted to tack on a few days after the ISPA Conference & Expo to explore Las Vegas? What about your last buying trip to Asia? If so, you might just be a bleisure traveler. A new study released by the GBTA Foundation, the research and education arm of the Global Business Travel Association, found that in the past year, 37 percent of North American business travelers extended work trips for a short vacation. The study, conducted in partnership with Hilton Hotels & Resorts, tapped 675 business travelers in the United States and Canada and found that age was a factor in those choosing to extend professional trips into a holiday, with nearly 50 percent of H millennials choosing to do so, a much higher rate than Gen X-ers (33 percent) and baby boomers (23 percent). Another interesting part of the study noted that travelers rarely change accommodations when transitioning from the business to leisure portion of their trip, citing that 82 percent stayed in the same place for both portions. Spas are perfectly poised to tap in to the bleisure travel market. A spa treatment is the perfect way to transition a trip from business to pleasure. In-room advertising and treatment packages geared toward this new category of traveler could attract the type of business traveler that historically didn’t have time to make a stop in the spa. n The study... found that age was a factor in those choosing to extend professional trips into a holiday. Millennials 50% Gen X-ers 33% Boomers 23% 16 PULSE ■ August 2017