Las Vegas: Business travellers who extend their business trips with leisure activities are a growing segment in the travel market worldwide, said a study by tourism research firm Luth Research.
The study, commissioned by Expedia Media Solutions, found that 43% of business trips in the US are mixed with leisure days, with many trips lasting four or more days.
"Several American business travellers who are on convention and conference or client meeting and team building like to extend their trips into leisure because 60% of them don't have regular holidays," said Candice Rab, senior vice-president for new products and business development of Luth Research.
Moreover, 66% of business travellers tend to spend more money on leisure activities. About 84% of business leisure trips are made in the same city as the business trip and 84% of them stay in the same hotel.
Destinations are the first research topic and lead decisions, with sightseeing and the restaurant scene being key influences.
The study said 85% of these trips were spent sightseeing, 63% at beaches and 57% for food. Top five cities for business leisure trips are New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
Attending major events is adding to leisure time on business trips, with 86% attending festive/cultural events, 76% sporting events and 64% music concerts.
The untapped business leisure market was among the tourism trends of interest at the recent Expedia Partner Conference 2016 in Las Vegas.
Becky Wu, senior executive vice-president of Luth Research, noted that business travellers who extended their trips into leisure made bookings for leisure activities 1-4 weeks in advance.
Of the total, 64% of them go to major travel websites and 47% visit event websites and 41% go to travel agents prior to a trip.
Expedia hopes its tourism partners receive a clear picture of business leisure travellers to gain actionable insights they need to understand and influence this travel segment.
Luth Research experts said although the study focuses mainly on business leisure travel in the US, the behaviour of business travellers in the other parts of the world is not different from their American peers.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) have honed in on meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) visitors as they have higher spending power than regular tourists and stay longer. According to TCEB, the average spending of Mice visitors is three times higher than other types of tourists.