Long weekends sub for long vacations
The two-week vacation is fast disappearing. Instead, employees are using their vacation days to extend weekends and take shorter breaks from the office.
The shift is being blamed partly on rising gas prices as well as mounting pressure for workers to be available to clients around the clock. And more dual-income couples are finding it difficult to coordinate vacation schedules due to work demands.
Only 14% of Americans plan to take a two-week vacation in 2007, down from 16% in 2006, according to a new study by Harris Interactive for Expedia.com, an online travel site. One-third of workers do not always use all their vacation days.
"(I) consistently use my vacation time to extend weekends," Tim Allen, 29, an executive with New York-based electronic retailer Interactive Corp., says in an e-mail.
What's behind the shift:
•Travel costs. While nearly 65% of Americans plan to take a summer vacation, gas prices are taking a toll, according to a May survey of 1,003 adults by WNBC/Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Fifty-five percent of vacationers will take several shorter weekend getaways instead of the traditional long summer retreat.
"It's in the context of feeling hard-pressed financially," says Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll. "There are people opting for shorter, closer-to-home getaways."
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