Desperately Seeking a Break: National Survey Finds 56 Percent of America Needs a Vacation

America needs a vacation, suggests a national survey commissioned by Mondial Assistance, best known in the U.S. for its Access America brand of travel insurance. According to the survey, four in ten (39 percent) Americans haven’t had a vacation – defined as leisure travel of a least a week to a destination at least 100 miles from home – in the last two years, up from 33 percent who said the same last year. An additional 17 percent of Americans haven’t taken a vacation in over a year, meaning 56 percent of Americans haven’t taken a vacation recently (39 percent more than two years and 17 percent more than a year).

“The first Vacation Confidence Index [in 2009] proved what we’d long assumed, that Americans love their vacations and strongly resist giving them up”

All this adds up to an opportunity for the travel industry to woo weary Americans who, at this point, are in near-desperate need of a break. Adding to the sense of pent-up demand, respondents to the survey also reported that vacationing continues to be important (33 percent very/31 percent important) for most (63 percent) Americans, although the proportion that says so is down slightly (4 points) from 2009.

“The first Vacation Confidence Index [in 2009] proved what we’d long assumed, that Americans love their vacations and strongly resist giving them up,” said Daniel Durazo, director of communications for Mondial Assistance. “This year’s survey shows that much of that demand remains untapped by the travel industry. There is a real opportunity for travel companies to take advantage of that pent-up demand. Two years is simply too long to go without a vacation.”

Not surprisingly, those whose families earn in excess of $75,000 a year are most likely to say they’re confident (58 percent) that they’ll take a vacation in 2010, or that they already have (15 percent). By contrast, those whose families earn under $25,000 a year are least confident (29 percent) that they’ll get a vacation or to report that they already have (8 percent).

Moreover, men (50 percent) are more confident than women (41 percent) that they’ll vacation in 2010, although they’re equally as likely to say they’ve already been on one this year (each at 11 percent). Regionally, those living in the Northeast are most confident (54 percent) that they’ll get a vacation this year (8 percent already have), followed by Americans living in the Midwest (43 percent, 14 percent already have), South (43 percent, 12 percent already have), or the West (46 percent, 8 percent already have).

The vacation deficit can be measured by gauging the proportion of Americans who say a vacation is important to them but aren’t confident they’ll get one in 2010. Among those who say an annual vacation is important to them, 28 percent aren’t confident that they’ll get a vacation this year. By comparison, last year only 22 percent of these Americans weren’t confident that they were going to vacation, suggesting that the vacation deficit in America is rising.

Vacation Countdown…

Four in ten (39 percent) Americans haven’t had a vacation in over two years. On the other end of the spectrum, 9 percent have been lucky enough to have vacationed in the last month, while 10 percent vacationed 1 to 3 months ago, 6 percent vacationed 4 to 6 months ago, 17 percent vacationed 7 to 12 months ago and 17 percent last vacationed 1 to 2 years ago

Focusing on those who haven’t had a vacation in over two years:

• Those whose family earns less than $25,000 a year are the most likely (57 percent), while those who earn between $25K and $75K (44 percent) or over $75K (23 percent) are less likely to have waited over two years for their last vacation.
• Those in the Midwest (41 percent) and West (41 percent) are slightly more likely than those in the South (38 percent) and Northeast (36 percent) to say it has been over two years since they’ve vacationed.
• Those with kids (44 percent) are more likely than those without kids (36 percent) to have not been on a vacation in over two years.
• Those who are married (33 percent) are much less likely to have waited for over two years for their next vacation than those who are not married (46 percent).
• Embracing their new-found frugality, 27 percent of those who say an annual vacation is important haven’t had one in over two years.

The Importance of Being on Vacation…

Speaking earnestly, while two in three (63 percent) Americans say that having an annual vacation is important to them, one in three (36 percent) do not say that it is important. However, some are more likely than others to say that it is important:

• Those aged 35 to 54 (67 percent) and 18 to 34 (66 percent) are more likely than Americans aged 55+ (58 percent) to say that an annual vacation is important.
• Those who earn a higher family income (74 percent) are more likely to say a vacation is important compared to those whose family income is more modest (61 percent) or low (56 percent).
• Men (64 percent) and women (63 percent) are equally as likely to say a vacation is important to them.
• Those who work full time (75 percent) are much more likely than those who work part time (64 percent), unemployed (54 percent) or retired (51 percent) to say an annual vacation is important.
• Married (67 percent) people are more likely than those who are not (59 percent) to say an annual vacation is important.

Survey Methodology

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted June 3-7, 2010. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults residing in the U.S. interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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