In my ideal vacation, I’m in an Instagram-worthy swimsuit with a pair of shades over my eyes, lazing on a sunbed with a mocktail in my hand on a pristine beach at my dream destination: Bali, Indonesia.

Yet, this ideal remains unrealised, for I have never set foot in Bali.

In fact, I have never been to many of my fellow Singaporeans’ favourite travel destinations, such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan — not because I have no interest in them, but simply because they’re not within my scope as a “bleisure” traveller.

The term “bleisure travel” has been gaining traction in the post-Covid era of hybrid work, but it’s a concept I’ve been practising all my working-adult life. 

This means that I always combine business travel and leisure travel, which involves going on a work trip with an extended vacation before, during or after the main goal of travel, such as attending a course or presenting at a conference.

Earlier this year, Forbes projected that the bleisure travel market will grow by 500 per cent or more over the next decade.

With more and more people jumping onto the bandwagon, it strikes me that more efforts should be directed towards enhancing and smoothing the bleisure experience for all.  

WHY BLEISURE TRAVEL?

As someone with a perpetually packed schedule and no love of meticulous planning, bleisure travel is a blessing. 

With regular leisure travel, there are so many nitty-gritty details to attend to: What are the best travel dates? Which seasons are better or worse to visit a certain destination? When are peak tourist periods, and how can I avoid crowds or price surges? 

These decisions are difficult and tedious to me, but they’re easily resolved by bleisure travel. 

First, the dates of my trip are generally fixed, as they are tied to the pre-confirmed dates of my main purpose of travel, such as my course or conference. 

The only decision I need to make is the exact number of days I want to extend the trip — which is in turn pegged to how much annual leave I have left.

Second, accommodation is always settled.

With leisure trips, one usually spends much time and effort comparing prices, reading reviews, and choosing between different room types of hotels.

But with bleisure travel, in which the main event such as a course often takes place at a hotel, I simply stay at the same hotel out of convenience. No stressing over multiple options and booking arrangements, plus I can laze in bed a little longer before travelling a few floors up or down to get to the event venue. 

It doesn’t hurt that hotels that typically play host to such events often offer room options to participants at a special rate.

To bypass the trouble of moving between accommodations, I usually stick to the same hotel even when I enter the leisure component of my bleisure trip. Forbes reported in 2022 that the majority of bleisure travellers do the same.

Third, bleisure travel takes away the perpetual question mark regarding travel companions.

The simplest, most fuss-free method of bleisure travel is doing it solo, as I often do. Otherwise, my travel companions would automatically be peers also joining or participating in the main event. 

I don’t have to undergo all the usual painstaking considerations of travel social etiquette: Who else is available or interested? How should we plan around our individual schedules, tastes and preferences? What if some of us like hot weather, but others like it cold? What if I want to do a physically demanding activity, but someone else isn’t interested? 

In regular leisure travel, an inability to strike the right balance between all these factors might result in the trip not happening at all.

Bleisure travel also allows me to maximise the sunk costs of air ticket expenditure and travel time. I’m already physically overseas — I don’t have to spend extra time and money on a separate flight just for leisure purposes.

DOWNSIDES OF BLEISURE TRAVEL

However, there are many downsides to bleisure travel.

To begin with, bleisure travel does limit my horizons. Many of the events I attend are organised in the same country, so I often make repeat trips to the same destinations every year or so.

For example, I’ve been to the United Kingdom once a year for the past three years to attend a conference or graduation, and have gone to Thailand twice just this year to attend courses.

Destinations that are usually more for holidaying and sightseeing such as the Maldives and South Africa are currently out of reach for me. 

Another downside is the fine balancing act between the business and leisure components of such travels.

I found it difficult to fully enjoy the leisure parts of some trips where I was preparing for stressful events to come later, such as presenting at a conference or meeting.

I’ve since learnt to extend such trips after the main event is over, to be able to enjoy my tourist antics with peace of mind.

BLEISURE BLISS

In light of bleisure travel’s growing popularity, I’d like to see the hospitality industry start catering more for bleisure travellers like me by offering new services and amenities that make it easy for us to move from work to fun.

For example, Singaporean bleisure travellers would like local leisure activities to be part and parcel of their work trip, reported Amadeus in 2018.

More travel and tourism players could work together to offer additional perks for business travellers extending their stay, such as offering loyalty programmes for these travellers including complimentary or discounted city tours, or exclusive access to certain facilities such as club lounges or meeting rooms.

Bleisure travel also means consecutive days of leave, which some employers may not be thrilled about.

However, circumspect employers should rethink their reluctance on allowing their employees the continuous leave required for bleisure travel. 

After all, such travel helps employees cut down on the number of plane rides undertaken, saving money but also time and energy. It’s more environmentally friendly, too, making it an all-around win. 

I still hope to one day go on a true vacation in a place like Bali. Just “leisure”, no “B”.

But for myself and many others, bleisure may be all the travel we can afford to do right now. Why not make it a more seamless, enjoyable experience abroad?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alvona Loh Zi Hui is a medical doctor who works in Singapore.