MIXING PLEASURE WITH BUSINESS

The challenges of life on the road have been well-chronicled in this e-newsletter over the years, yet one aspect of business travel appears to be changing and, accordingly, warrants a closer look: the return of the business trip that includes some personal time for pleasure.

This phenomenon was quite pronounced during the latter part of the 1990s when the economy was roaring and corporate CFOs were quick to overlook any travel transgressions as a result. Yet the difficult days following the meltdown on Wall Street in 2000/2001 and the tragic events of 9-11 combined to propagate a different attitude in this regard, and business travelers were far less likely to take time on either side of a business trip for pleasure purposes. This attitudinal shift is readily apparent in the trend data from our National Business Travel MONITOR™ appearing below:

Agree:	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
% Of Business Travelers Who Agree: "I extend my business trips for pleasure purposes whenever I can."	60%	47%†	47%	42%	43%	40%	44%
% Of Business Travelers Who Combined Pleasure With A Business Trip On At Least One Occasion During The Previous 12 Months.	65%†	59%†	62%	57%†	68%†	68%	69%

† indicates statistically significant change from previous year.

As reflected by the numbers, attitudes toward this corporate “perk” appear to be changing once again. Specifically, fully 44% of active business travelers now state that they “extend business trips for pleasure purposes” whenever they can (up from 40% last year). And fully seven out of ten did so at least once during the previous 12 months (versus less than six out of ten in 2003).

Who are business travelers most likely to invite along when planning to schedule some personal time around their corporate obligations? Six out of ten (59%) bring just their spouse. One out of seven (14%) invite along both their spouse and children (a significant decline from the 18% incidence recorded in 2005). Only 6% of business travelers report bringing their children along without another spouse or adult.

For additional information on the results of the Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown/Yankelovich 2006 National Business Travel MONITOR™, please click here.