HYDERABAD: British Airways recently conducted a global online survey in 12 markets: the US, UK, South Africa, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, France, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong, targeting over 2,000 adults in each market, including 2,006 respondents in India between December 20 to January 4. Basis the findings of the survey, a host of interesting facts were derived, pertaining to the holiday consumption habits of the Indian populace.
One of the top findings has been that 65% of employed adults have had left over holiday allowance at the end of the year. In addition to helping us gain valuable insight into the latest desires/ needs of the diverse section of the society, the survey has been an eye opener- by bringing about the truth behind the vanishing tales of an Indians vacation.
Top findings
Duration of Holidays
65% of adults in India did not take a two-week holiday in 2017
65% of employed adults have had left over holiday allowance at the end of the year because 55% were too busy to take time off while 29% felt guilty using all their holiday allowance resulting in nearly 97% having rolled over holiday days
To top that, the majority (92%) have ended up losing holiday days completely by not taking them in time – as many as 5 days or more (34%), 3-4 days (32%) or just 1-2 days (25%).
Common sentiment
Over 59% of the people wish they had spent more time at the destination during their last main holiday abroad while 11% came back dreading returning to work
A clear majority (58% of adults) are of the belief that they have come back from a holiday and felt like they hadn’t properly switched off as opposed to the other chunk of 32% who feel like they haven’t really had a long enough break
December is the month in the year when the workforce in India starts to panic about using up holiday days to ensure they aren’t lost (16%)
Causes
Although the majority (65%) of employed adults are sanctioned two-week holidays from their company, 42% are too worried about the work load piling up and 26% can’t get the time off work
29% of employees are afraid to ask their workplace for given time much time and a startling 38% believe that two-week holidays are frowned upon or discouraged by their workplace