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Fewer workers tack on vacations to business trips
by admin ·
The down economy means fewer people can afford to tack on vacation time to a trip, and fewer people are willing to risk the negative perceptions that may exist about travel perks, says Peter Yesawich of Ypartnership, an Orlando-based travel research and marketing firm.
The economy is expected to speed the decline in dual-purpose trips, he says, but the trend has been falling out of favor for about seven years.
Only about 30% of business travelers said they brought along their spouse or kids — or just added some alone time — before, during or after a business trip in the past year, according to the Ypartnership/Yankelovich National Leisure Travel Monitor released in May. In 2000, 60% said they’d combined trips. Yesawich estimates the rate would be even lower today. “People would say, ‘It’s all about serious business now,’ ” he says.
Michael Steiner of Ovation Corporate Travel, a Manhattan-based agency, says Ovation’s corporate clients are especially cutting their weekend stays on domestic trips.
“Last year, they were more apt to stay a Friday and Saturday night, but this year, they’re coming home,” he says.
Phil Lapp, a snack foods sales manager from Lancaster, Pa., who’s on the road about half the time, says he hasn’t combined trips in several years, due to the increasingly competitive business environment and the demands of having two young children, ages 4 and 2. He doesn’t plan to do anything differently next year.
“Traveling now is difficult enough, but when you factor in trying to coordinate family schedules with business meetings, it creates a chaotic and sometimes distracting environment,” he says.
Some hotels and destinations, however, continue to see opportunity.
Seattle, which has eight Fortune 500 companies based in the region and has a healthy convention business, expects to keep drawing more dual-purpose visitors, says Tom Norwalk, CEO of Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. More business travelers, for instance, have been tacking on cruises before and after their trips, he says.
And the Cambria Suites at the airport at Savannah, Ga. — where a night’s stay costs around $100 a room — has continued to see around 15% of business guests stay an extra day, even during the stock market’s meltdown, says Hal Smith, the hotel’s general manager. Some guests bring golf clubs to play in the area, though most stay longer to take tours and enjoy the city’s historic district, he says.
Since the trend has endured this fall, Smith next year plans to offer new golf and tour packages to help offset the decline in business travel.
“That will encourage people to stay an extra day,” Smith says, “so instead of leaving Thursday afternoon, they might stay through Friday or Saturday.”
