Indians fourth on list of most vacation-deprived people

Indians stand fourth on the list of most vacation-deprived people among travellers from 22 nations, polled in a global travel survey to be released on Friday.

Mumbai: Indians stand fourth on the list of most vacation-deprived people among travellers from 22 nations, polled in a global travel survey to be released on Friday.

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The Expedia Vacation Deprivation 2012 survey, that polled more than 8,500 people around the world, found that Indians failed to use one-fourth of their annual leave owing to lack of planning, co-ordination with friends or fearing they might miss out on something important at work.

What is worse is that India has jumped a rank above its fifth position in the same survey last year. According to the survey, six out of ten Indians (60% respondents) have cancelled or postponed their vacations.

“This year, superiors have been marginally lenient in sanctioning leaves as compared to last year, but the average number of leaves availed have dropped significantly from 25 in 2011 to 20 this year,” said Manmeet Ahluwalia, marketing head, Expedia (India).

In comparison, professionals from European countries such as Germany, Italy and France got the highest number of leaves, ranging between 25 and 30, the survey findings stated.

The survey also found that nearly one of two Indians (47%) frequently check office mails on vacations – the highest work-on-holiday percentage among all the countries polled.

“Vacations play an important role in relaxing and re-energising employees while enhancing their motivation and productivity,” added Ahulwalia.

Unlike last year (72%) marginally more respondents (76%) said their bosses encouraged them to take a break from work in 2012.

The survey also found that only 10% Mumbaiites managed to get leave for more than 30 days in a calendar year, which was at par with other metros such as Delhi (11%) and Chennai (8%).

A majority of Indians (36%) managed to get 11 to 20 days leave a year, which is down from 40% in 2011. At 68%, Delhiites topped the chart in cancelling vacations at the last minute owing to work followed by 59 % in Mumbai.