Welcome to the world of bleisure: the trend is growing of adding leisure time to the business trip.

Business travel was never designed to be fun. Very often you find yourself rushing to an airport, getting off in another city, jumping in a cab, going to a hotel, meeting in the hotel's conference room, jumping back in a cab, and the next thing you know you are sitting in the office. You may have just visited one of the most beautiful, culture-rich cities in the world, and never even knew it.

But the times they are-a changin'. Many people who need to travel on business are becoming "bleisure" travelers, a term used to define professionals who mix vacation --or leisure--time with business.

According to a BridgeStreet Global Hospitality report, 60 percent of travelers reported having taken bleisure trips, with 30 percent adding at least two additional days to their trip. Respondents said they do this because it limits the stress associated with business travel, making them more relaxed when away from home. And sometime it's just to enjoy the city they are traveling to.

An advantage

On a business trip, Caroline Michaud, a PR executive for a hotel group, opted not to do the traditional first plane out after finishing a business meeting in London. Instead she took the last flight out so she would have time to visit the National Portrait Gallery and Buckingham Palace.

"I'm always seeing how you can stretch the trip," she said. Even if it just means six extra hours in a city, she wants to do it. "You don't have to stay extra nights to get the real feel of a city," she said.

As a travel management company, we are seeing increasing amounts of clients extending their trips, and bleisure is fast becoming a way of life for the business traveler. Many see extending their work trips as a perk of the job. We find that when a business trip is extended with family or friends, the burden of travel is lessened and can make employees more willing to travel In the first place.

We also have clients advising us that bleisure trips can be advantageous to the company as a whole, with staff gaining better knowledge of a city and its culture being good for business.

In a survey of international travelers published last year, 60 percent said they've taken bleisure trips, usually adding two vacation days to work-related travel. Nearly half of them did so on most occasions, and six out of 10 said they were more likely to take bleisure trips today than they were five years ago.

"It makes the stress of business travel more bearable," says Stuart Bruce, a British public...