If you follow travel trends like me, you might notice there’s a new approach to vacation planning.
This approach revolves around crafting longer-term trips. No more weekend getaways or four-day escapes.
Travelers today are opting for longer trips that last at least eight days. This approach is backed by science and has been shouted out in publications from The Washington Post to The Wall Street Journal.
From lifestyle coaches to psychology professors, there’s evidence that longer trips allow travelers to unwind with greater results. It’s a chance to let their bodies and minds ‘log off’ from the work week.
And given most Americans don’t take all their vacation days available, that’s an important factor. After all, what’s the point of taking a vacation if it doesn’t actually relax you?
I recently took a week off to soak up the sun in Sicily. For the first three days, I had to actively remind myself not to check my email and other apps like Slack. I spent the first twenty minutes each morning reminding myself that I was off the clock.
I imagine I’m not alone in that.
But not every reason behind this eight-day vacation trend is based on science or relaxation. Some factors are largely mundane. For example, an eight-day vacation is appealing to many Americans because we tend to think of our life in week-long chunks, making a seven-day or eight-day getaway more manageable than a ten-day or twelve-day trio.
So what else is behind the fact that travelers are starting to opt for longer trips? Let’s explore.
Longer distances = longer trips
Seasoned travelers know that things haven’t quite been the same since COVID.
The pandemic required airlines to slash their staff, along with airports. Since then, many positions have been left vacant, translating to subpar (at best) airport experiences around the world.
In the last year, I have traveled internationally five times. Only one of my flights took off on time. (You’re my hero, Swiss Air!) Reasons for delays are varied, from a lack of air traffic controllers to volcano eruptions. That Sicily trip I mentioned above involved a day-long airport re-route thanks to smoke plumes from Mt. Etna.
In other words, the new normal at airports (whether due to short staffing or environmental delays) means that travelers are more at risk of spending entire days getting from Point A to Point B.
Longer trips help recoup these seemingly inevitable delays.
The rise of relaxation tourism
One recent article from the Harvard Business Review found that vacations are an important part of long-term professional success. In fact, overwork can even lead to subpar success rates at work.
That means that vacations aren’t just about exploring the world. They’re also about recuperating the mind, body, and spirit. I believe this trend is linked to a growing suspicion of ‘hustle’ culture.
In fact, this seems to be reflected in another travel trend: an uptick in wellness-based vacations. Whether heading out on a wellness retreat or booking a stay at a wellness-focused hotel, travelers are opting for more zen-like escapes.
And what’s more relaxing than a full week off the job?
Spending habits
Travel was once a novel experience. International vacations, in particular, were billed as the ‘trip of a lifetime’ when I was growing up in the 1990s. Even heading someplace close like the Bahamas or Mexico was a pretty far-out idea (at least in regions like the Midwest).
That phrase ‘trip of a lifetime’ used to have a lot more depth. Vacations to places like Australia, China, or South Africa truly might only come once in a person’s life.
Tourism has since become a commodity. Many tourists are willing to pay top dollar to see faraway places, wait in hours-long lines to sample famous foods, and otherwise take trains, boats, and planes to some of the world’s coolest destinations.
In other words, shelling out thousands (or tens of thousands) for vacation is par for the course these days. This shift in spending habits has helped generate longer vacation times.
Additionally, the roll-out of multi-day vacation packages and exotic resort bundles has also made it easier for the average person (who might not have so much to spend on a trip) to hit the road.