With Singaporeans taking more vacation days off in 2022, vacation deprivation sentiments saw the biggest dip for the first time

Today Expedia released its 23^rd-annual Vacation Deprivation report, finding that vacation deprivation levels in Singapore saw a significant drop of over 10 percentage point – the highest ever –  as Singapore working adults adapt to navigate travel barriers in their personal lives and workplace, and juggle their busy schedules. Despite obstacles such as rising inflationary costs, Singaporeans unanimously (96%) feel that they deserve to take time off and that it is a basic right. In fact, a fifth of travellers in Singapore pledged to travel “no matter what” in 2023.

The 2023 report polled more than 14,500 people across 16 countries, including 500 respondents from Singapore. Key findings on Singapore vacation deprivation include:

• 58% of Singapore adults report feeling vacation deprived, dropping from its ranking of 3^rd to 11^th most vacation deprived countries, compared to 2022. This is substantially lower than vacation deprivation levels Singaporeans reported in 2021 (69%), which followed a year characterised by travel restrictions and lockdowns.

• While most Singaporeans adults felt impacted by inflation (82%), only 8% plan to take fewer vacation days out of worry about the economy or a recession. Rather, most intend to take just as many vacations (37%), if not more (47%), as they usually do. When asked about their approach to travel in 2023, nearly 1 in 5 Singapore travellers (20%) said they plan to travel “no matter what.”

• Almost all (96%) Singaporeans feel they deserve to take time off and regard it is a basic right and that regular vacations are important for general health and well-being (96%). In fact, 93% feel that vacations are more beneficial to their happiness than other luxuries like fine-dining or shopping and in turn, 86% prioritised vacations over other everyday luxuries. 

• With Singapore travellers more conscious in the current inflationary state, 72% noted feeling stress during travel booking as they were not sure if they are getting a good deal. As more Singapore travellers (36%) are frequently utilising trip planning tools like price alerts to maximise their travel planning, the introduction of new Expedia tools including Price Tracking can help vacation deprivation reclaim their time off for their getaways.

“This global annual report from Expedia shows that not only is vacation deprivation a feeling of not having enough annual leave, but it’s also the personal mindset of travellers”, says Lavinia Rajaram, Director, Public Relations Asia and Global Corporate Communications, Expedia Brands. “Close to a quarter of Singaporeans (22%) revealed the worry of not being able to afford a trip away as one of the main reasons for not being able to use all of their annual leave, which is why Expedia is focused on making it easier for travellers to get away, whether that’s through price tracking for flights or member savings.”

About the research: Expedia first commissioned Vacation Deprivation in 2000 to examine the work-life balance of people worldwide. The annual study is currently in its 23^rd year and was conducted online among 14,527 respondents across North and South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Commissioned from February 9 to March 3, 2023, on behalf of Expedia by Northstar Research Partners, a global strategic research firm, responses were gathered using an amalgamated group of best-in-class panels. Looking at the margin of error for the global average, a 1-4% difference is statistically significant at 90% confidence.