Work & Play on the Same Trip

These days people seemingly work 24/7 as they are constantly connected to their devices. This can have a detrimental impact on a person’s life-work balance, but it has created one positive trend, people now tend to work and play on the same trip.  A recent surveyed showed a growing tend for travelers to combine business and leisure trips and then rated the best cities in Asia Pacific to both work and play.

Sponsored by ANA and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit the survey sought input from 1,500 people on what they look for in a combined work and leisure trip. It then rated cities on a scale one one to five stars.

The cities were rated on a variety of factors including; safety, availability of consumer goods and services, opportunity for cultural experiences, quality of food and beverage, quality of international/regional links, level of digital connectivity, ease of transportation, quality of business facilities (shared meeting spaces, conference venues, etc), quality of lodging, prevalence and quality of English language (in signage, public announcements, etc).

The stakes are high for cities to attract business travellers.
The Global Business Travel Association, estimates that business travel spending hit US$1.33trn globally in 2017, a 5.8% boost over 2016, with Asia-Pacific contributing 43% of this.

We’re not surprised by this list as we think Tokyo is a great city to work and play in, as is Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong and Melbourne, the other cities which top out the list. What about you? Is the list missing your favourite Asian hotspot to combine work and play?