Indians are the fifth most ‘vacation-deprived’ in the world. A recent survey conducted by online travel firm, Expedia, said that Indians get an average of 25 vacation days in a year, but one-fifth of these goes unused.
Maybe one can draw some consolation from the Japanese, who top the charts. The people of the East Asian nation avail only 5 vacation days out of the 11available a year. Korea, another country from the same region, is in the second position. Its citizens take 7 out of a possible 10 days’ vacation.
“In India, vacations tend to be viewed as a guilty habit,” notes Manmeet Ahluwalia, marketing head of Expedia India. “As many as 54 per cent Indians spend vacations usually secretly checking emails. One can assume that the days not availed are spent working in offices.”
Most people in India, the survey suggests, would rather encash their unused holidays than take a vacation. There is also a section that is unable to plan a holiday the right way. Reason: workplace commitments. They end up being vacation deprived or deferring it to a later date. “Delhi employees are the most fretful of their bosses’ disapproval on taking vacations,” notes the survey. “Most workers across the APAC region and Europe, including 28 per cent Indians, said their bosses weren’t supportive of them taking vacations.”
The people taking the most vacations are Europeans. Even Brazilians with almost the same number of holidays, as Indians enjoy each day of their vacation, treating it more as an expectation than a luxury unlike Indians. American respondents earned 14 vacation days and used 86 per cent of them.
As for destinations, Indians prefer relaxed beach vacations over other destinations. Globally, beach vacations are king, the survey said. Expedia’s vacation study polled employed people across 21 countries. It asked respondents to share the number of vacation days they take each year, what obstacles they face, where they prefer to holiday and how they behave when they are vacationing.