Why vacations don’t always mean departure

Tips for not forgetting anything in your suitcase, comparison to choose the most effective sunscreen, checklist to point out all the restaurants to try in your vacation spot, summary of excursions not to be missed on site… There is a lot of information to gather before leaving for your vacation. But are all these recommendations and guides useful to everyone? Not really in fact… Just read the definition in Larousse to remember: “legal period of work stoppage for employees, during which many people travel”. And “many” does not mean the entire population…

Vacation does not mean travel

Let us remember that holidays do not necessarily rhyme with departure. According to the 23rd edition of the annual holiday barometer,‘Ipsos for Europ Assistancethe departure intention rate stands at 64% while more than three quarters of French people (77%) revealed that they wanted to be on vacation… For its part, theObservatory of inequalities has just recalled that no less than 40% of French people do not go on holiday.

Based on data from Credoc, the organization points out that we can talk about vacations from the moment we leave our home for more than four consecutive nights for non-professional reasons. This can therefore correspond just as well to a plan to go on vacation with our parents when we return to the family fold as a stay on the other side of the world. “Transport, accommodation, activities: vacations are expensive and a large proportion of households do not have sufficient means to go away. Financial aid for vacations is insufficient,” indicates the observatory. That’s clear! It’s not for nothing that many municipalities have adopted the concept of Paris Plages to bring the summer spirit (and sand) into the urban space…

Spending your holidays away from home is therefore a question of means. When you earn more than 2,755 euros per month, you are more likely (logically) to pack your bags. This is the case for 72% of those who enjoy it, while only 37% of those who earn less than 1,285 euros per month actually go on holiday, according to Credoc data valid for 2022. Holidays are expensive! And it is not for nothing that several studies focus each time on analyzing whether the budget of those leaving is decreasing or increasing. Moreover, a study by the mobile app Rosaly has just indicated that 31% of French people who go on holiday intend to ask for an advance on their salary. 44% of employees have already chosen this solution in the past to increase their purchasing power while 59% have requested a larger bank overdraft authorization. During the holidays, financial issues are clearly a source of stress, this is the case for 76% of holidaymakers.

However, financial means are not the only reason for not going on holiday. These are also linked to the social scale and, by extension, to a lifestyle to which one may be accustomed as a child.The higher you go up the social ladder, the more likely you are to escape. Because the upper classes earn more of course, but also because it is part of their lifestyle: the most privileged have more often been used to traveling with their parents in their youth (they have acquired a taste for it, feel reassured away from home). The network also plays a role: by rising up the social ladder, we also more often have the means to find free accommodation in vacation spots, such as second homes.“? explains the inequality observatory very directly.

And the trend is not improving, that is to say that more French people are going on holiday less often, 37% in 2022 compared to 41% in 2002. Even the most well-off are concerned (72% against 84%).However, the wealthiest are still twice as likely as the poorest to leave“, concludes the observatory to recall the reality of a summer season that we always associate – wrongly – with escape.

Slideshow: These timeless activities that we only do on vacation