Recently released results of a study by the GfK, the global research firm headquartered in Nuremburg, Germany, leaves U.S. tour and travel industry professionals searching for generalizations that might fit into their marketing programs for the future, but there is no search for the most obvious conclusion: Americans are happy with the amount of vacation time that they get; this is a finding that seems to sync with the studies prepared by the U.S.Travel Association that American are notoriously generous to their employers by neglecting to use their vacation or leave time—more so than employees in any other developed nation.
The GfK study shows that 69 percent of US consumers consider themselves at least “fairly satisfied” with their leisure time, beating the global average by 11 percentage points. These results place the U.S. on the top of the satisfaction scale, with Canada trailing at 67 percent, and Sweden in third at 57 percent.
GfK also found that 25 percent in the U.S. say they are “completely satisfied” with their amount of time off – nine points above the global average.
The countries where people are least likely to be happy with their leisure time are led by Russia, where nearly a third (31 percent) are “not at all satisfied” or “not too satisfied.” Russia is closely followed by Japan (30 percent) and Brazil (28 percent).
Across all 22 countries surveyed, 16 percent of people aged 15 and over say they are “completely” satisfied with the amount of leisure time they have, while 42 percent are “fairly” satisfied. Only 18% are not satisfied to any degree, including 4 percent who are “not at all” satisfied. The remaining quarter (24 percent) consider themselves neutral.
Satisfaction with Amount of Leisure Time
| Country/Market | Completely | Fairly | Neither Satisfied nor | Not too | Not at all |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfied | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Satisfied | |
| 1. USA | 25% | 44% | 19% | 10% | 3% |
| 2. Canada | 23% | 44% | 19% | 11% | 3% |
| 3. Sweden | 23% | 34% | 25% | 15% | 3% |
| 4. Germany | 22% | 44% | 17% | 13% | 4% |
| 5. Mexico | 21% | 38% | 24% | 13% | 4% |
| 6. UK | 21% | 46% | 20% | 9% | 3% |
| 7. Belgium | 21% | 45% | 18% | 13% | 3% |
| 8. Ukraine | 20% | 38% | 26% | 13% | 3% |
| 9. Turkey | 20% | 36% | 25% | 11% | 6% |
| 10. Brazil | 19% | 34% | 19% | 20% | 8% |
| 11. Spain | 18% | 42% | 24% | 13% | 4% |
| 12. France | 18% | 46% | 20% | 13% | 3% |
| 13. Argentina | 17% | 33% | 27% | 17% | 6% |
| 14. Australia | 16% | 45% | 23% | 13% | 4% |
| 15. Italy | 14% | 43% | 25% | 14% | 5% |
| 16. China | 14% | 45% | 26% | 13% | 3% |
| 17. Poland | 13% | 36% | 28% | 18% | 6% |
| 18. Russia | 13% | 35% | 22% | 22% | 9% |
| 19. Taiwan | 9% | 43% | 31% | 16% | 4% |
| 20. S. Korea | 8% | 37% | 36% | 18% | 4% |
| 21. Hong Kong | 6% | 45% | 30% | 16% | 3% |
| 22. Japan | 5% | 33% | 32% | 22% | 8% |
Source: GfK survey among 27,000+ consumers (ages 15+) in 22 countries—rounded
GfK conducted an online survey (face-to-face in Ukraine) with over 27,000 people aged 15 or older in 22 countries. Fieldwork was carried out in 2014. In the countries surveyed online, the data have been weighted to reflect the demographic composition of the online population age 15+ in each market. In the country surveyed face-to-face, the study is representative of the top-tier urban population aged 15+ excluding the lowest SES levels. The countries included in this press release are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA.
