GIVING UP YOUR VACATION? Don't even think about it…
Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN), one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, is encouraging travelers to take their “heart-earned” time off.
With fuel prices at historic highs and leading economic indicators heading south, today the perception is that Americans are more likely to stay home. But is it in fact true?
Yes, it’s true that Americans get less time off than most other nations (see chart) and, more revealing, they also give up a much higher percentage of vacation days for any number of reasons the most recent being higher fuel costs. Yet the reality is, Americans pay less than half for gas than our European counterparts (see chart).
Trends show that many Americans continue to travel, but are making smarter choices. Instead of the traditional two-week family vacation of yesteryear, more than half of Americans are taking more vacations of shorter duration, usually four nights including a weekend, and staying closer to home. Shorter, drive-to trips are easy to schedule and more affordable even with our rising gas prices.
For the other half of the population who may be not taking that valuable time off, what’s lost in missing a vacation, or leaving three vacation days on the table at the end of the year? A lot. Far from a luxury, vacations may be essential to wellness and health. The research, to date, is unequivocal: we all should take our vacations to heart. Here’s a sampling of supporting studies and surveys:
International Vacation Deprivation™ Survey by Expedia.com
The 2008 edition of this popular survey finds that many U.S. employed adults are not making full use of their vacation days and may not be getting sufficient time away from work. In the U.S., the mean number of vacation days received by employed adults is only 14 days. The average American worker doesn’t take three of those days (which translates into 21 percent of unused time off). Compare that with Great Britain, where workers receive 26 vacation days on average and don’t take three; and for the opposite end of the spectrum, consider France, where workers get a whopping 37 days of paid vacation days off per year, with only two of those days untaken on average or less than 8 percent of vacation time.
The Vacation Deprivation survey also included the following key findings:
- About one-third of employed U.S. adults (31 percent) usually do not take all of the vacation days they receive each year.
- About two in five employed U.S. adults report regularly working more than 40 hours per week.
- Nearly two in five (39 percent) reported feeling better about their job and feeling more productive upon returning from vacation.
- More than one-fourth (29 percent) often have trouble coping with stress from work at some point during the vacation cycle.
(Source: Vacation Deprivation Survey Facts and Vacation Ideas at Expedia.com. May 2008. Expedia.com. 15 July 2008.)
Americans Staying Closer to Home this Summer
The Travel Industry Association (TIA) found that Americans are still traveling, despite the economy and higher gas prices. Six of 10 (59 percent) Americans planning a trip with their car, truck or SUV this summer will not change their travel plans even with increases in the price of gas, according to a survey co-authored by the TIA and Ypartnership. Among the 41 percent of respondents who stated their plans would change if gas prices rise further, the greatest percentage would simply drive a shorter distance to their vacation destination. Other expected outcomes include people taking shorter trips and looking at cost-saving options. (Source: Gas Prices Not Likely to Affect Travel Plans of Most American Travelers. 7 May 2008. Travel Industry Association (TIA). 15 July 2008.)
Framingham Heart Study
One of the longest-running (started in 1948) and oft-cited studies on the subject is the Framingham Heart Study, in which some 750 women ages 45 to 64 with no heart disease were assessed on personal and lifestyle attributes in the late 1970s and then tracked for the next 20 years. At that point, researchers looked at their risk factors for having a heart attack. Guess what? The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1992, reported that the least frequent vacationers (those who took no more than one vacation every six years) were at 50 percent higher risk for a heart attack than the most frequent vacationers (those who took at least two vacations every year). (Source: Eaker, Elaine D., Joan Pinsky, and William P. Castelli. “Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Death among Women: Psychosocial Predictors from a 20-Year Follow-up of Women in the Framingham Study.” American Journal of Epidemiology 135.8 (1992): 854-64.)
Heart-Earned Vacations
Often concerns about job security and career advancement deter vacation decisions. But not taking time off can do more harm than good. Research by the Mayo Clinic found that stress leads to a fight or flight response, which, unchecked for too long, can cause health effects that include anxiety, irritability, insomnia and depression. The conclusion was that, among other things, Americans need to take a mini-vacation from the usual routine. (Source: Manage Long-Term Stress to Avoid Ill Health Effects. 3 Oct. 2007. Mayo Clinic. 15 July 2008.)
Wisconsin Medical Journal
Other research indicates that vacations may have a long-term moderating effect on stress. In a recent study of 1,500 women in central Wisconsin, it was found that women who took vacations once in two years, or less, were more likely to be stressed or depressed than women who took vacations twice a year or more. The study, presented in the Wisconsin Medical Journal in 2005, also found that the more vacations women took, the more likely they were to be satisfied in their marriages.
(Source: Chikani, Vatsal, Douglas Reding, Paul Gunderson, and Catherine A. McCarty. “Vacations Improve Mental Health Among Rural Women: The Wisconsin Rural Women's Health Study.” Wisconsin Medical Journal 104.6 (2005): 20-3.)
