MANILA, Philippines – Tourist arrivals from the United States are climbing back to pre-pandemic levels, riding the “bleisure travel” trend. And a new surge of travelers may be coming in soon, with United Airlines set to launchFrom January to July 2023, 607,113 American visitors came to the country in the first seven months of the year. That accounted for 18.86% of all visitors, making Americans the second biggest market behind South Koreans in terms of number of arrivals.
Although the idea isn’t new, bleisure travel – or travel that’s partly business, partly leisure – has gained new prominence. A study by US travel technology companyshowed that bleisure travel has increased, with 76% of business travelers planning to take a bleisure trip in the next 12 months. For instance, Dias said that rather than leaving on a Friday for a weekend leisure trip, they’ve observed travelers leaving on a Wednesday, working remotely on Thursday and Friday, and then taking the rest of the week for leisure.
With this upgrade, the luxury hotel chain wants to attract business travelers who are also looking for more leisure time. MICE industry players to promote out-of-town bleisure meetings, which are “low-hanging fruits on our road to recovery.”