Penned To Perfection

Business travel has always been a coveted perk of a corporate job. The thicker the passport, the bigger the bragging rights. However, the sad reality is that visa stamps do not equal meaningful experiences. For instance, an offsite to Istanbul means little if all you can do is admire your hotel’s conference rooms and manage a token cruise on the Bosphorus with your office mates. It is certainly not enough to justify the heavy carbon footprint you racked up to get there.

Corporate travel can be made more meaningful by “staying a little longer”, a catchphrase that tourism boards worldwide use to entice business travellers to extend their stay. Even a two-to-three-day extension can help offset the carbon load, benefit the local economy and help you enrich yourself with some experiences to remember. For instance, if you are on a business trip to Stuttgart, extending your trip by just two days will allow you to experience the charms of the Baden wine-growing region (approximately 620 kilometres away), with the Odenwald range and the Black Forest on one side and the Vosges mountains on the other.

In this special issue of Outlook Business, Shreya Cheema delves into the trend of bleisure–a portmanteau of "business" and "leisure"–and explores how post-pandemic flexibility at workplaces is nudging travellers to make the most of their business trips.

In the rest of the issue, Vinita Bhatia gives the lowdown on business hotels that go beyond functionality to offer personalisation and warmth. Antara Chatterjee presents a sneak peek into the luxury vacation spots of the super-rich, Chandreyi Bandyopadhyay takes you to top golfing destinations in the world and Priyanka Kapoor shows how women travel entrepreneurs are powering on despite funding issues. Also, do not miss Kartikeya Shankar’s list of best airports in the world to kill time and, most importantly, entertainment options in business districts worldwide.

There is this, and plenty more, to read in this issue. Hope you enjoy it!