For being the land of the free, the U.S. doesn’t give many of its workers all that much free time. As one of the nations with the least amount of vacation days (the average American worker gets just 10 days of paid vacation a year), that hardworking mentality we pride ourselves on might, to some extent, be forced upon us. And making things worse is new research from travel comparison tool Liligo, which suggests that one in 11 Americans feels that planning a vacation is actually a more stressful endeavor than planning a wedding.
Yikes.
As per the findings of Liligo’s “Travel Search Report,” Americans seem a bit unwilling to ever commit to booking a trip, fearing that once they hit “confirm,” a better deal will appear elsewhere. In fact, this is a sentiment held by one in seven of those surveyed, and one in 12 respondents said that they always find a better deal after they’ve booked their trip. Moreover, Liligo determined, one in seven Americans spend more time researching the best deals for their trip than where to actually go on vacation.
As such, it comes as no surprise that vacation planning sometimes feel like more of a chore than an escape. In fact, study results show that 33 percent of Americans spend more time researching their vacations than deciding on which doctor to visit. Over a third of Americans spend more time figuring out where to take their time off than working out, and over a quarter say they’re more invested in Googling destinations than reading the news. Perhaps most egregious of all, just under 10 percent of Americans claim to spend more time researching travel than spending time with their significant other.
“With work stress on the rise and vacation days on the decline, Americans will go to great lengths to ensure their only days off are completely stress free and ultimately seamless,” said Eric Urbain, general manager for the U.S. at Liligo, “but finding the most convenient and affordable deals out there can be difficult and time consuming.”
But just maybe, tools like Liligo can help alleviate some of that stress, which is practically a vacation in and of itself.
