Americans get less vacation, still don’t use it all, study says

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

American workers expect to receive less vacation time in 2011 than the previous year but still won’t use all of their allotted time off, according to a study on vacation habits by the travel website Expedia.com.

The main reason given: Worries about money.

While American workers said they expect to get an average of 14 days of vacation in 2011, the workers only took 12 days off of work, according to the study that polled 7,803 workers in 20 countries.

In 2010, the average American worker received 15 days of vacation and only took 12, the study said.

In contrast, the average French worker said he expected to receive 30 days of vacation in 2011 and will take all of them, according to the study.

But the Expedia study concluded that the world’s most vacation-deprived workers live in Asia. Japanese workers say they will take only five vacation days in 2011 out of 11 days they earned. South Korean workers will take seven out of an allotment of 10 days of vacation.

The top reason given by workers worldwide for not taking vacation time was that they believed they could not afford it. American workers lead the world in money worries, with 34% of American workers saying they can’t afford to take vacation time, according to the study.

Still, the study found that when asked to describe their financial situation, almost half of Americans who were polled called it ‘solid’ or ‘good.’

RELATED:

Leisure and business travel continue to grow

Lawmakers and airlines square off over bag fees

TSA says no new study of scanner health effects needed

-- Hugo Martin