Hurry Up And Relax

The pressures of contemporary life are palpable to most adults who are employed full time and, in particular, those in the workforce who happen to reside in a household in which both the husband and wife are employed full time (approximately 60% of all "spousal" households). The resulting sense of "time poverty" has precipitated a gradual decline in the length of vacations, and a corresponding surge in leisure trips taken over weekends.

According to the results of our soon-to-be released 2008 National Travel Monitor℠, weekend trips remain the most popular for Americans as reflected in their incidence versus that of both mid-week and extended (5+ night) trips. In fact, weekend leisure trips (4 nights or less including a Saturday) now represent a remarkable 53% of all vacations taken by Americans, up from 46% in 2000. The decline in the popularity of weekday trips appears to be directly related to the increasing difficulty people have in getting away from work during the week. The trend also reflects the growing appeal of short getaways to abandon the pressures of work in order to re-energize, if only for a few days at a time! No wonder Saturday is now the busiest night of the week in hotels and resorts all across America.

But the aging of the U.S. population has also yielded another very interesting phenomenon: an increase in the incidence of extended trips (5+ nights). As one might expect, this phenomenon is evident primarily among older adults who are semi-retired or retired, individuals who have the luxury of planning longer trips without worrying about the demands of what awaits back at the office or on the job.

For more information on the Ypartnership/Yankelovich 2008 National Travel Monitor℠, please visit the Publications section of www.ypartnership.com.