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A file photo of Hawaii. If this languishing economy has left you pressed for time and short of money, you might consider stretching that relaxing getaway into bite-sized breaks. |
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If this languishing economy has left you pressed for time and short of money, you might consider stretching that relaxing getaway into bite-sized breaks. Experts say mini-vacations, brief holidays of four days or less, offer today's traveler a restorative pause without the pressure or expense of a long journey. "The mini-vacation is a fantastic way of changing the scene without breaking the bank," said Amelie Hurst of travel website TripAdvisor. "The trip you spend 12 months planning and pouring all your budget into has to live up to a dream," she explained. "With a mini-vacation travelers can find themselves more ready to go with the flow." In a recent Trip Advisor poll of almost 1,700 Americans, 22 percent said they opted to take shorter vacations of two-to-four days due to finances and six percent said it was due to vacation time. Peter Yesawich, CEO of Ypartnership, which tracks travel trends, said the weekend getaway has reigned as the most popular American leisure trip for over a decade. Last year, with the economy still stuck in the doldrums, it accounted for almost half of all U.S. vacations. "To Americans a vacation is a birthright," said Yesawich. "It doesn't matter how low the Dow goes, how high the unemployment, the majority Americans are still taking vacations." Yesawich said work habits reinvented vacation habits in the prosperous 1980s and 1990s, when employment rates were rising, along with the number of two-income households. "Work habits began to constrain vacation habits," he said. "We became more beholden to work and that drove vacation around weekends." Yesawich said the Internet accelerated the trend and the latest economic downturn sealed it. "Prior to 1996 there was a sanctity to Saturday, but that has disappeared in this 24/7 environment," he said. Genevieve Brown, of Travelocity, said autumn is traditionally a popular season for mini-vacations because the kids are back in school and families have less time. "People are still committed to taking vacations, but they're watching travel dollars closely," Brown said. "Shorter vacations make sense." (Agencies)
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如果萎靡不振的經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢(shì)讓你沒錢又沒閑，你或許可以考慮一下把超長(zhǎng)假期拆成可以輕松消化的短假。 專家表示，4天之內(nèi)的迷你短假不僅可以讓如今的旅行者在緊張的生活中緩緩神兒，還能免去長(zhǎng)假帶來(lái)的壓力和花銷。 旅游網(wǎng)站TripAdvisor的艾米麗?赫斯特說(shuō)：“迷你假期是省錢度假的好辦法?！?/p> 她解釋道：“你用整整一年計(jì)劃了一次花光你全部預(yù)算的旅行，最終卻不得不放棄。而迷你假期旅行者的安排則更靈活?！?/p> 在TripAdvisor網(wǎng)站最近針對(duì)1700名美國(guó)人開展的調(diào)查中，22%的受訪者稱他們選擇參加兩到四天的短途游是出于經(jīng)濟(jì)原因，另有6%稱是時(shí)間問題。 Ypartnership旅游行銷公司首席執(zhí)行官彼得?葉薩維奇表示，在過(guò)去十多年中，周末游一直是美國(guó)最受歡迎的休閑出行方式。 在去年經(jīng)濟(jì)低迷時(shí)期，周末游占到了美國(guó)假期出游的一半。 葉薩維奇說(shuō)：“對(duì)美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，度假是‘天賦人權(quán)’，不管道?瓊斯經(jīng)濟(jì)指數(shù)有多低，失業(yè)率有多高，多數(shù)美國(guó)人仍然會(huì)去度假。” 他還表示，在上世紀(jì)80年代到90年代的經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮時(shí)期，就業(yè)率和雙收入家庭數(shù)量持續(xù)攀升,人們當(dāng)時(shí)的工作習(xí)慣改變了度假觀。 他說(shuō)：“在當(dāng)時(shí)，工作習(xí)慣開始限制度假方式。人們更加感激工作所得，因此利用周末出游成為趨勢(shì)?！?/p> 他表示互聯(lián)網(wǎng)加速了這種趨勢(shì)，最近的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)更使這一趨勢(shì)成為定勢(shì)。 他說(shuō)：“在1996年以前，人們還覺得周六必須休息，而這種觀念在如今連軸轉(zhuǎn)的工作環(huán)境中已經(jīng)不復(fù)存在了?！?/p> Travelocity旅游公司的吉納維夫?布朗稱，秋季一直是短途游的旺季，因?yàn)楹⒆觽兌奸_學(xué)了，家長(zhǎng)沒有太多時(shí)間。 布朗說(shuō)：“大家仍然愛度假，但更不舍得花錢了。度個(gè)短假才更現(xiàn)實(shí)。” 相關(guān)閱讀 意總理敦促國(guó)民在本國(guó)度假 幫助經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇 （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Julie 編輯馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: break the bank: ruin one financially, exhaust one's resources（花光，傾家蕩產(chǎn)） go with the flow: to cope with adversity; to accept one's lot（順其自然，隨遇而安） stuck in the doldrums: 陷入低迷 |
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