The Blurring of Personal and Professional Lives of Travelers

The blurring of business and leisure travel is a trend we have been covering on Skift from the start, where we have tracked the rise of “rogue” business travelers finding their way outside the corporate walls.

Business travelers are increasingly rebelling against their stodgy corporate booking tools and want to access the deals and tools that are readily available to them when they travel for leisure.

A new survey by Pullman Hotels and conducted by IPSOS looks at the “blurring” from a slightly different but complementary perspective: the blurring of private and professional lives of international travelers, partly due to the fact that mobile professional devices (PCs, smartphones, tablets, etc.) are now omnipresent. The survey polled 2,200 seasoned international travelers, and came up with some interesting results, especially the difference in attitudes across cultures:

• 43% of international travelers always take their mobile professional devices with them on holiday or on weekend trips
• 89% of seasoned international travelers say mobile professional devices are a means of staying in touch with their loved ones.
• Seasoned travelers welcome this new way of organizing their private and professional lives: 79% view it positively. However, one in two travelers sometimes feel remorse when not devoting this time to loved ones.
• The Chinese and the Brazilians are “blurring” champions and the most connected travelers. 79% and 71% respectively have at least one mobile professional device (compared with 60% in the other countries).
• 60% of the Chinese and 45% of the Brazilians in the survey panel browse online dating sites using their professional devices. Less than 10% of the Europeans (Germans, British and French) do so and the survey sample global average is 23%.
• French and German travelers are the ones that blur their professional and private lives the least.
• 18% of responders read or send work emails in private situations, hiding the fact that they do so from their loved ones… and 18% even do so during private lunches or dinners.
• The French have a very negative opinion of the use of mobile professional devices. Mostly notably, 59% of them believe it to be a source of stress.
• 69% of the survey sample organizes holidays and weekend outings online during working hours (85% of the Chinese).
• 43% of the survey sample acknowledges that they work before going to their workplace.
• Some believe “blurring” has a positive impact on their private life: owning a mobile professional device enables them to stay in touch with their families (89% “agree” and 43% “agree wholeheartedly”).