Vacation Starvation

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Some on the left hold that we don't really want the extra time because we're too busy consuming goods and running up our credit cards. Yet a survey by the Families and Work Institute found that 63 percent of Americans want to work less, up from 46 percent in 1992. As for the nation's instant economic demise to global forces once we get real vacations, it doesn't appear that the Swiss or Swedish economy is in danger of immediate collapse. In fact, here's another zinger from Lofgren-25 percent of Swedes have second homes in the countryside. Let me hear you say Ja!

When I raised the vacation issue six years ago, some irate letter writers predicted the Asian Tigers-Korea, Thailand, Taiwan-would eat us up if we 'gave' any more vacation time. A few economic meltdowns later, we're not too worried about the Tigers anymore. Now the argument will be China. They'll clean our clocks! Hello, out there. We're blowing away the world's economies, with the lowest unemployment in 30 years. Why are we so insecure? Maybe it's time for Alan Greenspan to open up a Federal Reserve therapy center. Tell us we're okay, Alan!

Another impediment to rational discussion in this debate is the idea that employers are giving something away. But it's just the opposite. 'In essence, companies get more for their money,' says Miller. 'Not only are they going to get more productive employees, but they're also going to get retention and loyalty. My stepson got a week off for paternal leave from his company. He is so loyal to them, he'll never leave. He has more of a commitment to them because they have an interest in him.'

And besides, it's not a giveback so much as a rightful return. Men in the U.S. work an average of 49.9 hours a week and women, 42, according to the Families and Work Institute. That means men are working an extra week every month of the year-do the math: that's three months extra a year-and women an extra two weeks a year. So it's more a case of returning a few hours to their rightful owners. So how do we get the ball rolling here? First we have to begin the discussion, raise the awareness level, that on this very planet there are people who go to work up to four weeks less a year than we do-who live in countries with sound economies and a lot more charter flights to exotic lands. Once it sinks in that there is another way and that ours, logically, is insane, opinions change.

For instance, I gave a talk at the World Congress on Adventure Travel and Ecotourism a few months back about the future of the adventure industry, and I threw in a section on what I consider to be the most serious threat to travel-vanishing vacations. I didn't know how it might be taken, because these were employers in the audience, owners and operators of adventure businesses. But I thought if it was in any industry's self-interest to change how it looked at employee benefits, this was it. The message turned out to be a hit, but what staggered me was that this was the first time that travel professionals had heard the topic brought up. It was very gratifying when a bunch of people came up after the talk to join the cause. One of them, Roger Beadle, president of the Yuma Convention and Visitors Bureau, has decided to change his office policy. 'After hearing those statistics, I started giving it some thought,' Beadle told me recently. 'I totally concur with the concept that if you don't encourage people to take time off, they'll burn out quicker, they won't be as productive. So I'm going to be approaching my executive committee to increase two weeks off to three after two years and four after five years.'

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