Business travel is a key component to a company’s short- and long-term success. At a glance, business travel—or bleisure travel, a new trend blurring the lines of business and leisure trips—builds a company’s culture, revenue, and profits, along with a company’s employees’ career development and in-person connections. A company’s employees can choose to take part in business trips, and if desired, bleisure trips that combine a business trip with an extended leisure trip before or after the work-related event.

Business travel’s biggest impact on a company is its ability to improve client relationships, both in the states and overseas. According to a recent study, 85% of American business decision-makers said business travel leads to higher profit and revenue. Also, 85% of American business travelers said when they’re exploring new job opportunities, the ability to travel for work and visit different locations are important. Both American business decision-makers and travelers said business travel benefits a company’s culture in better performance and employees. Read on for further details surrounding business travel.

For employees and freelancers, a company’s day-to-day workplace can be dull and mundane. However, a business trip can help employees and freelancers fuel creativity, innovation, and perhaps new concepts. Work teams can become disconnected and simply tread water, but a business trip can help a work team connect, bond, and create positive travel moments.

And, for employers, companies can benefit from business trips in more ways than one. An employer’s company can complete closing deals through in-person meetings, explore new markets to tailor products and services to a wide variety of audiences, build strong relationships with clients, network to learn about the latest trends, and gain a competitive advantage from personal connections.

The benefits of business travel outweigh the drawbacks, as business trips can turn out to be great investments for businesses in the United States and beyond. The additional opportunities can provide new experiences for employers, employees, freelancers, and even clients. A business trip can work in an all-around manner for all of the parties, thanks to improved relationships, increased opportunities, and enhanced collaboration. After a business trip, a company can build on its newfound success for both the short- and long-term, as long as the company creates and maintains a streamlined travel policy for all.

As an employer, now’s the perfect time to incorporate business travel into a company’s itinerary this holiday season. A business trip can work wonders for employees and freelancers alike, as virtual meetings via Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, etc., arguably aren’t as effective as in-person meetings in real-life settings, such as hotel and event venues. In addition, the local food and beverages can bring people together, while helping individuals learn new cultures, customs, and maybe even languages. Even the most subtle implementation can make the biggest difference in an employee’s or a freelancer’s work-life balance.

And, as an employee or a freelancer, now’s the time to make time to incorporate a business trip this holiday season. The holidays can be stressful for some, if not most, individuals, but agreeing to—and embarking on—a business trip can help an individual go on an adventure as a reward and share photos and videos along the way. Not only does an individual make memories with other individuals, but also improves a business’ overall image in the short- and long-term.

Travel, including business travel, has multiple benefits, including but not limited to, mental health, physical health, emotional health, happiness, tolerance, empathy, personal growth, self-reflection, connection to nature, memories, and communication skills. Traveling can help an individual de-stress from the often dull and mundane workplace in a new and different location. Traveling for business doesn’t require 24/7 attention to business-related activities in group settings, so a business traveler can maintain sanity, avoid burnout, and explore a location.

Travel can help an individual become open-minded in general, while possibly developing overall brain health. Travel can provide an escape from an individual’s daily routine—especially in a dreary, old workplace—with positive feelings, memorable moments, and life-changing opportunities, just to name a few benefits. Travel’s return on investment (ROI) helps both employees and employers.

Last but not least, employers can go above and beyond in employees' and freelancers’ business trips by offering access to airport lounges, flight upgrades, and expedited check-ins for future flights. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in remote and hybrid work, which can affect the overall productivity levels among employees and freelancers alike. But a business trip can improve an individual’s productivity, and an individual can make the most out of a business trip with the addition of personal time off to explore the new location and morph into a bleisure (business and leisure) trip.