Lectures For Lifelong Learners!

In 2015, the US Travel Association launched ‘Project Time Off’, an initiative that encouraged American workers to take their paid vacation days. With the support of major employers, campaigns were mounted to get workers to take ‘one more day’. The attitude of American workers towards their vacation entitlement may surprise people from some other nations, where vacationing is a much more central aspect of life. The difference in attitude is especially striking because, as the world’s wealthiest nation, the reason why Americans take fewer holidays are less likely to be purely financial for a significant portion of the population. This presentation will review the US policy and cultural context that explains our nation’s attitude toward leisure, recreation and vacations. It will argue that while the underlying factors aren’t exclusive to the USA, the extent to which they have influenced the national mindset, and their emergence against a policy backdrop that is the exception among developed countries, distinguish the USA as a ‘no vacation nation’.