Vacations and Travel - Are Weekend Trips The New Vacation Trend?

The Travel Industry Association of America is forecasting 2.5% to 4% growth annually in travel over the next decade. In 1999 we took 1.3 billion leisure trips and spent $540 billion on travel.

But Americans have the least amount of vacation time compared to other countries: roughly 13 days, compared to 42 days in Italy, 37 days in France, and 28 in Great Britain, according to the World Trade Organization. Nearly a day of time has been shaved off this total over the last decade. So how do we spend these precious days? Instead of the traditional two-week vacation, we're taking more vacations for shorter periods.

The number of weekend trips grew 70% between 1986 and 1996, rising from 356.8 million trips to 604 million (weekend travel includes a Friday and/or a Saturday night stay, at least 50 miles from home). The number of non-weekend trips saw growth of only 15% during this period, with trips rising from 484 million to 557 million. What's responsible for the increase? The time crunch many people suffer, our unwillingness to be away from work for an extended period, "getaway packages" marketed by the travel industry.

In a 2001 survey, half of all adults said they take at least one weekend trip a year; 29% reported taking five or more a year. As well, over half of weekend travelers with household annual incomes between $50,000 and $74,999 make last-minute plans for these weekend trips, compared to 32% for those with income of $75,000 or more and 40% for those under $50,000. Could this be because these middle-class families are feeling stressed and feel the need to suddenly "get out of town" for a couple of days?

But are these abbreviated vacations enough? Are we still just too stressed and too pressed for time?

Source: "Popularity of Weekend Travel Grows." Retrieved January 9, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.tia.org.