The travel industry is keenly watching the development of a new trend in the US, in which employers are allowing staff to take as much time off as they want, reveals the WTM Global Trends Report 2015, in association with Euromonitor International, released today (Monday 2 November) at World Travel Market London.
US workers traditionally have limited holiday entitlement compared to other countries, with no specified legal minimum. A survey by the US Travel Association in 2014 showed 40% of Americans don’t use all their holiday time, with 13% taking no paid holidays at all.
Yet that is starting to change, with some organisations realising that offering unlimited holidays creates a happier team of loyal and motivated staff. Companies including Netflix, Evernote, Virgin Group and Gravity Payments are among the 1% of American companies, or those that operate in the US, allowing this option, reveals the report – which is celebrating its 10th anniversary at WTM London 2015.
It’s an exciting opportunity for the travel industry as, while the US ranked third in 2014 globally for package holiday value sales at US$23 billion, its per-capita ranking is 27th according to Euromonitor International, showing there is huge potential from extra holiday allowances.
Euromonitor International’s Head of Travel, Caroline Bremner said: “The original American Dream – the opportunity for everyone to prosper and climb the social ladder – translates as long working hours and few holidays. Yet research by Expedia in 2014 showed 54% of Americans feel ‘vacation deprived’.
“This trend could be a win-win for employers, staff and the travel industry.”
Some companies have taken the idea a step further by providing holiday spending money, or ensuring employees have a vacation before their work starts, known as a ‘pre-cation’.
For example, Fullcontact, a cloud-based contact management company, offers its 18 staff members US$7,500 to take a holiday. The rules are strict: No working; no checking or making work-related emails, texts or calls and staff must go on vacation to qualify.
The trend has already reached the UK, with EST Accountants and Tax Advisors in Wales and Virgin Group offering unlimited holidays.
South Korea and Japan also have very limited holidays and are possible countries for future holiday allowance changes, according to the WTM Global Trends Report 2015, in association with Euromonitor International.
World Travel Market, Senior Director, Simon Press said: “Ten years ago, when the WTM Global Trends Report in association with Euromonitor International was launched, flexible working seemed unachievable in the office environment. Now it’s the norm. We could soon be witnessing the end of strict vacation policies, with unlimited holiday entitlement creating a happier workforce, happier bosses and of course, a very happy travel industry, which has much to gain if this trend takes off.”
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About WTM Global Trends Report, in association with Euromonitor International
Celebrating 10 years of partnership, the leading global travel event World Travel Market (WTM) and strategic global market research provider Euromonitor International are pleased to reveal the top travel trends in the WTM Global Trends Report 2015, in association with Euromonitor International. For ten consecutive years, the report has been at the forefront of accurately predicting major travel trends around the world, looking at how the travel industry is developing in a rapidly changing landscape. The WTM Global Travel Trends Report, in association with Euromonitor International, offers an insight into to the size and shape of travel and tourism and identifies pressing industry issues, emerging brands, destinations and demographics, growth categories and consumer trends.
About World Travel Market London
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.
Almost 51,500 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL – London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.
WTM London, now in its 36th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM 2014 will generate around £2.5 billion of travel industry contracts.
WTM London is part of Reed Travel Exhibition’s World Travel Market events, which also includes Arabian Travel Market, World Travel Market Latin America and World Travel Market Africa. www.wtmworld.com
World Travel Market Events
World Travel Market is comprised of the leading leisure travel events in the world; World Travel Market London, WTM Latin America in Sao Paulo, WTM Africa in Cape Town and Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
New events for 2016 are WTM connect Asia and WTM connect China, which join WTM connect Ski and International Golf Travel Market. These unique one-to-one events are targeted at leisure and niche travel markets, allowing exhibitors to exclusively meet with elite hosted buyers.
The World Travel Market events are attended by the global travel and tourism industry’s senior executives to conduct business deals and discover the latest research, insight and opinion.
In 2014, the World Travel Market events facilitated around $7 billion in industry deals from negotiations between the more than 15,000 buyers, 9,500 exhibitors (1,500 main stand holders and 8,000 stand sharers) in attendance of its four events.
WTM is part of Reed travel Exhibitions, the leading events organizer in the travel industry, and is owned by the world’s leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions.
Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, incentives and business travel, as well as golf, ski and spa travel.
RTE, which organises more than 22 events around the world, includes three divisions; World Travel Market, IBTM Events and International Luxury Travel Market.
RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in 43 countries. In 2014 Reed brought together over seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 41 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.
About Euromonitor International
Euromonitor International is the world’s leading provider for global business intelligence and strategic market analysis. We have over 40 years of experience publishing international market reports, business reference books and online databases on consumer markets. We deliver market research solutions to support strategic planning for today’s increasingly international business environment. Our research offers in-depth market analysis on consumer goods and services industries worldwide, as well as economic, demographic and socio-economic data and insight on countries and consumers. Euromonitor International is headquartered in London, with regional offices in Chicago, Singapore, Shanghai, Vilnius, Sao Paulo, Santiago, Dubai, Cape Town, Tokyo, Sydney and Bangalore, and has a network of over 800 analysts worldwide.