Business tourism is an important component of the overall travel and tourism sector. Learn more about its advantages for businesses.
Conferences, trade shows, and meetings all contribute to what is known as business tourism, where tourist-friendly destinations also become commercial places suitable for working visits. This type of business travel offers an array of benefits not only to the destinations that host events, but also to the companies that participate.
As an important component of the global travel and tourism sector, business tourism is growing rapidly. According to a WEF report, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) is predicted to grow at 9% between 2025 and 2031, outpacing the rest of the business travel segment. And Allied Market Research finds that overall, the global business travel market is growing at a CAGR of 9.5% between 2022 and 2031, projected to reach $2095.4 billion by 2031. Some of the driving factors are directly related to business tourism, with an increase in corporate events and in-person conferences that blend work activities with the opportunity to sightsee.
In this article, we’ll explore how business travel and tourism intersect and why they’re so important to local economies. We’ll also break down the major business tourism advantages for organizations and individual business travelers, so that you can find ways to optimize these benefits.
Business tourism is often used interchangeably with terms like business travel or MICE tourism, and it offers many of the same advantages. Like business travel, business tourism involves traveling to achieve work-related objectives, including:
Yet ‘business tourism’ is more of an umbrella term that also refers to the sector itself, including aspects of MICE as well as bleisure. It relates directly to a destination, looking at how business travelers contribute to the local economy and what the local economy has to offer travelers in return. In this regard, it plays an important role in economic growth by facilitating collaboration between global companies, all while giving the local tourism economy a boost.
Like bleisure, business tourism may involve some leisure elements in a traveler’s itinerary alongside work-related events. Whether or not you extend a business trip for a few days of leisure, you might enjoy touristic activities like enjoying the local cuisine, taking a city walking tour, or relaxing at your accommodation’s leisure facilities after a long day of meetings. Indeed, destination was rated the second-highest decision-driver among delegates when choosing whether to attend a business conference.
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Domestic or international, there are multiple types of business travel and tourism, each providing a distinct way to further your organization’s objectives.
Standard business trips include traveling to attend dinners with clients, business meetings, or networking events. They also include internal trips where you might meet with colleagues in different global locations. The goals of this type of business tourism include networking, collaboration and knowledge sharing, strengthening ties with in-person visits.
Another example of business tourism is travel within the MICE sector, involving industry events where companies can show off new products, attending training sessions and learn about the latest trends. This category includes congresses, trade shows, conferences, and exhibitions.
When companies plan a reward trip for high-performing employees or departments, this is called incentive travel. Incentive trips blend business goals with fun team-building activities. Though this type of business tourism is designed to serve company objectives by boosting morale and providing incentive for performance, it is often more leisure centered.
Corporate retreats are examples of business tourism as well, with employees enjoying time relaxing in wellness facilities, attending ecotours, or paying guided visits to local attractions.
Familiarization trips are educational visits to a business tourism destination. These give travel buyers and corporate event planners the chance to see what a destination is like before hosting a conference or exhibition. They usually work in partnership with a local tourism board, with representatives showcasing the destination’s event venues, business hotels, and tourist infrastructure.
The wider travel and tourism market is expected to account for 10.3% of global GDP, and business tourism contributes greatly to this figure. Yet on a smaller scale, it holds plentiful benefits for individuals, businesses, and local economies. Here are some of the benefits of tourism related to work.
Business tourism plays an important role in fostering connections, networking, and growth. In the case of corporate retreats, it also serves as a powerful motivator that can increase employee satisfaction, loyalty and performance. Here are the key benefits:
For individual employees, business tourism trips give the chance to improve productivity while exploring a new place. Benefits include:
Business tourism generates revenue for a city’s hotels, restaurants, and leisure facilities, making it a significant contributor to local and regional economies. Large-scale events like international conferences attract frequent, high volumes of visitors, who spend money during their stay. Compared to leisure travelers, business travelers often stay in more expensive hotels and spend more on dining out when entertaining clients.
For example, business tourism contributed £158 million to the London economy between January and September 2024, alone. Beyond the economic boost, here are a few more advantages of the business tourism industry:
Business tourism management requires a robust company travel policy combined with a high level of organization. Here are some tips to keep in mind when planning this type of travel for your team, so that you can maximize its potential benefits.
When business tourism involves leisure time, it’s crucial to create a policy with clear definitions of what constitutes working and personal time. Travelers need to know which travel expenses are covered by the business, and which will be out of pocket. You can also specify preferred vendors, booking tools, and expense reporting procedures to ensure better cost control.
Set up team booking guidelines, spending limits and contact information with this simple online tool.
SME and corporate travel planners are experts at staying organized while taking traveler preferences into account. Using self-booking solutions like Booking.com for Business, traveling employees can compare and book their choice of hotels and flights, all within the parameters outlined by your company travel policy.
In addition to flights and accommodation, you’ll also need to think about transportation to the event venue and advise employees of necessary documentation for travel. Then, you’ll be able to prepare personalized itineraries with a daily schedule of work events and scheduled time off for entertainment and sightseeing.
One of the key advantages of business tourism is that it goes a step beyond meetings to include time spent at the destination. While some business travelers will choose to extend their stays to make it a bleisure trip, others will want to experience the local sights within those small moments between work sessions. When planning your itinerary, try to build in time for sightseeing, trips to the theatre, or even just a morning stroll.
Of course, health and well-being are a top trend in corporate events, which means wellness-oriented activities may already be part of the schedule. Look for MICE events with features like guided meditation, sound baths, yoga sessions and creative workshops to keep traveling employees healthy and productive.
Working with little time to spare? You might want to consider one of our top three strategies for better travel planning: ending your business trip on a high. Even with a packed itinerary, try to plan a special experience at the end of the trip, whether it’s a nice meal or a city tour before your departure flight. This is based on psychology’s Peak-End rule, which states that people judge an experience based on its peak and ending.
Technology makes the trip planning process easier. With travel management solutions like Booking.com for Business, you’ll be able to compare prices and book business flights and hotels in a few clicks, then manage complex business tourism itineraries from a single platform.
Travel expense management tools and receipt scanning apps help keep costs under control, while messaging apps keep business travelers connected at a distance. Trip planning and navigation apps like Sygic Travel and Google Maps provide user-generated databases and reviews of city attractions, so tourists traveling for work can uncover hidden gems.
Technology is upgrading the corporate events sector as well. When preparing for business tourism events, expect features like digital business cards, contactless check-ins, and digital networking.
Business tourism planning often involves higher volumes of travelers than other types of business trips. You’ll need a good way to follow along with traveler locations in real time. That way, when flights get cancelled or local conditions change, you’ll be able to quickly locate and alert your traveling team members.
We’ve established that trip planning should start with a comprehensive company travel policy, and this should include emergency contacts and clear procedures to resolve problems. With mobile apps, travelers can receive real-time alerts regarding schedule changes, while automatically rebooking flights.
No matter the type of business trip you’re planning, Booking.com for Business simplifies the full travel management process. This starts by catering for personal preferences in your destination of choice.
With Booking.com for Business, you’ll have access to over 3 million properties, 380 airlines, and over 200 car rental brands covering global business tourism hotspots. Plan, manage, and track bookings from a single online tool for full visibility.
Business travel forms a fundamental component of the global economy, bringing city-wide and regional benefits through MICE events and their associated business tourism spending. As business and leisure travel trends merge, they create new opportunities for growth, both at a company level and for the economies that host these events.
Going forward, we can expect to see increasingly personalized travel experiences that bring a taste of local culture into business trips, all while maximizing connections and creativity. Ready to harness the myriad benefits of business tourism as part of your company travel strategy? Whether you’re planning a company retreat or choosing which events your teams will attend this year, consider the wider destinations as part of the experience, and the unique opportunities that they can offer.
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