{"id":15699,"date":"2021-10-13T06:40:45","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T06:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=15699"},"modified":"2023-04-17T10:45:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T10:45:51","slug":"traveling-for-vs-traveling-on-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/traveling-for-vs-traveling-on-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling for Business vs. Traveling on Business \u2014 Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture this: You are watching an old-timey, black-and-white film from the mid-20<\/span>th<\/span> century. The setting is an elaborately decorated hotel lobby. <\/span><\/p>\n

A man in a suit with neatly combed hair and wearing a freshly pressed suit approaches the reception desk. <\/span><\/p>\n

The receptionist looks up, smiles, and says, “Good evening Mr. Carlson, are you here for business or leisure this time?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of where we are going or what the purpose of our trip is, if we are traveling, we will likely be asked this same question at some point. <\/span><\/p>\n

Be it an online form or a curious flight attendant, we will be asked to answer whether we are traveling for business reasons or simply to enjoy ourselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

The question is straightforward. However, how to answer it is less so. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you are traveling for work, for example to attend a conference or to meet a potential investor, how should you respond? <\/span><\/p>\n

Should you say you are “traveling for business”? Or is it more correct to say that you are “traveling on business”? Or are both correct? <\/span><\/p>\n

These questions will be answered in great detail below. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it correct to say, “Traveling for business”?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is correct to say that you are “traveling for business” when business is your reason <\/b>for<\/i><\/b> traveling. To say that you are “traveling for business” is, therefore, an appropriate answer to the question, “What are you traveling for?” <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/h1>\n

Is it correct to say, “Traveling on business”?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is correct to say that you are “traveling on business.” This expression is mostly used to talk about being in a specific location “on business,” or of being “<\/b>here<\/i><\/b> on business.” The use of the preposition “on” in this context comes from how we speak about business trips, namely, “I am <\/b>on<\/i><\/b> a business trip.” <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When to use “Traveling on business” and when to use “Traveling for business”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is not unusual to hear someone ask, “Are you here on business?” This question essentially means the same thing as “Are you here for business?” <\/span><\/p>\n

However, the phrases “Traveling on business” and “Traveling for business” are not completely interchangeable, and there are instances in which using one is more appropriate than using the other. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, in the context of the question, “Are you here for business or pleasure?”, or alternatively, “Are you here for business or leisure?” you need to use <\/span>for<\/span><\/i> and not <\/span>on<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is because while you can use <\/span>on<\/span><\/i> for business, you cannot use it for pleasure or leisure. It would be incorrect to ask, “Are you here <\/span>on<\/span><\/i> pleasure?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Another time when it would be more appropriate to use “<\/span>for <\/span><\/i>business” than “<\/span>on<\/span><\/i> business,” is in the example “I am traveling <\/span>for<\/span><\/i> business reasons.” It would be incorrect to say, “I am traveling <\/span>on<\/span><\/i> business reasons.” <\/span><\/p>\n

This is because you do something <\/span>for<\/span><\/i> a reason, not <\/span>on<\/span><\/i> a reason. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is preferable to say, “I will be traveling <\/span>for<\/span><\/i> business once a week,” than to say, “I will be traveling <\/span>on<\/span><\/i> business once a week.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Neither is incorrect, but most people would agree that the former way of saying this flows better than the latter. <\/span><\/p>\n

An example of a situation in which it would be more appropriate to say, “Traveling on business,” than to say “Traveling for business” is when speaking about being in a specific city or location.  <\/span><\/p>\n

It is more natural to say, “I will be in London on business in January” than to say, “I will be in London for business in January.” <\/span><\/p>\n

While both are technically correct, the former phrasing sounds more intuitive and should be used where possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to use “Traveling on business” in a sentence <\/strong><\/h2>\n
I am traveling on business<\/strong>, so I know <\/span>without a shadow of a doub<\/strong>t<\/span><\/a> that I will be far too busy to use the tourist map. <\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am traveling<\/strong> to Manchester on business<\/strong> next week. I won’t have much time to shop, but if there is something specific you want me to bring home, let me know. <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I will be traveling on business<\/strong>, which means that all my expenses will be covered. <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Henry:<\/strong> How many times have you been here on business? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Anthony:<\/strong> I’ve traveled<\/strong> here on business<\/strong> four times already. Next time I come, I swear it’ll just be to visit you. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to use “Traveling for business” in a sentence <\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Henri:<\/strong> I feel like traveling<\/strong> somewhere this nice for business<\/strong> is like dancing with the devil<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong> I’m so tempted to just go sit on the beach. <\/span><\/p>\n

Heloise<\/strong>: Oh, give yourself a break, you work too hard! You are allowed to take a few hours off work, even if you are on a business trip.  <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Flight attendant:<\/strong> Will you be visiting family in Chicago? <\/p>\n

Passenger:<\/strong> No, I wish I were here for leisure. Unfortunately, however, I am traveling for business<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Flight attendant:<\/strong> Oh well. <\/span>It is how it is<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong> Perhaps you can come back sometime as a tourist.  <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the wake of<\/a><\/strong> the lawsuit against my company, I ended up traveling for business<\/strong> on an almost weekly basis. The court proceedings took place in Washington D.C., so I had to fly down every time there was a hearing. <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
With all that said, I wish all of you “Save travels<\/a><\/strong>!”<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture this: You are watching an old-timey, black-and-white film from the mid-20th century. The setting is an elaborately decorated hotel lobby.  A man in a suit with neatly combed hair and wearing a freshly pressed suit approaches the reception desk. The receptionist looks up, smiles, and says, “Good evening Mr. Carlson, are you here for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1116],"tags":[864,862,863],"class_list":["post-15699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-grammar","tag-travel-for-business","tag-travel-for-business-vs-travel-on-business","tag-travel-on-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15699"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25255,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15699\/revisions\/25255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}