Tourism Breaking News
A regional survey has found that most spend their holidays working instead of relaxing with their families. Only 1 in 10 are able to completely ‘turn off’ from work during a break and many can’t remember a holiday that hasn’t been interrupted by work. The Holiday Inn ‘Do More of What You Love’ survey, gathered insights from travellers across the Asia, Middle East and Africa region to explore what guests love to do and see during vacations with friends and family. Key findings indicate that in today’s ‘always on, always connected’ world, travellers find it challenging to truly disengage from work. Over half (56%) of the holiday-makers surveyed say they’ve either occasionally or frequently had to work whilst on holidays, and more than 55% of this group have had to cancel or postpone holidays because of urgent last minute work commitments.
New findings highlight impact of working during family breaks and why travellers should be doing more of what they love:
- 46% of Middle East respondents have cancelled or postponed a break for work
- 20% of Middle East respondents can’t remember a holiday that was uninterrupted by work
- Less than 6% of Middle East respondents have taken a holiday uninterrupted by work
Whether participants are male or female, parents or child-free, the findings show that taking a break is not easy to achieve:
- More men (57%) than women (42%) frequently work on holidays;
- More male than female respondents (56% and 43% respectively) said they have had to cancel or postpone holidays because something urgent at work has come up;
- Of those who have had to cancel or postpone a holiday due to work, child-free respondents were worst affected (63%);
Some travellers are finding ways to make work ‘work’ for us whilst on holidays with almost one in three (30%) saying they only check work emails and messages once their children are in bed, the survey finding women (61%) more disciplined than men (38%) at doing this.
Regional comparisons showed parents from Japan, Southeast Asia and India were best at only checking-in with work once their little ones were snoozing, while those from the Middle East scored amongst the lowest, unsurprising given almost half (47%) responded that they had to cancel or postpone family holidays due to work.
