Is Britain A Nation Of Holiday Commitment Phobes?

We all love a good holiday in Britain and the good news is that we are entitled to plenty of holiday leave by law! According to the government’s website, almost all workers in the UK are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year, which can include bank holidays.

Those who work 5 days a week are required to receive at least 28 days paid leave a year whereas part-time workers will receive less paid holiday due to working fewer hours per week. So with all this holiday leave that we are entitled to receive, it would only make sense that everyone uses up all their leave to enjoy their paid time away from work?

Workers Are Holiday Commitment Phobic?

It may come as a surprise to learn that this is not the case, as according to a study from British Airways, 69% of British workers did not take a two-week holiday in 2017 with over a third afraid of the stigma they would receive at work if they took a two week long holiday.

This can perhaps be explained with 49% of Brits reporting that they are too busy with their work to take their holiday with a further 16% feeling too guilty about using all their holiday allowance.

Finding the perfect balance between work and home can be hard and even for those who do try to take their entitled leave, 33% reported that they were unable to get the time off to have a longer break. This could perhaps be because their workplace was unable to cover their workload for a longer period of time or it may have limitations on how long could be taken at one time.

This unfortunately however has meant that over half of the working population (52%) did not take their entire holiday entitlement by the end of the year, meaning that an average of four days was being lost by British workers.

What Are The Popular Destinations?

It’s important though for workers to remember that they are entirely entitled to take all of their holiday days, even if their workplace may seem unhappy for them to do so. For those that do opt to use their holiday leave, there are a plethora of destinations both domestic and abroad that are popular with the British in 2018.

According to holidaylettings.co.uk, new research for 2018 has shown that Tattershall in Lincolnshire, Newquay in Cornwall and Whitby in Yorkshire are the most in-popular towns to visit. These places can be particularly perfect for long weekends as they are easy to reach and offer plenty of fun activities, making for a refreshing but short break in the UK.

Alternatively, for those who want to travel further afield and use up more of their holiday entitlement, Thomas Cook has reported that some of the most popular destinations for 2018 include Spain, Turkey and Greece.  These destinations are ideal for workers in UK as they are close enough to home that they can be visited for a week, potentially allowing more than one trip abroad!