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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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如果萎靡不振的经济形势让你没钱又没闲，你或许可以考虑一下把超长假期拆成可以轻松消化的短假。 专家表示，4天之内的迷你短假不仅可以让如今的旅行者在紧张的生活中缓缓神儿，还能免去长假带来的压力和花销。 旅游网站TripAdvisor的艾米丽•赫斯特说：“迷你假期是省钱度假的好办法。” 她解释道：“你用整整一年计划了一次花光你全部预算的旅行，最终却不得不放弃。而迷你假期旅行者的安排则更灵活。” 在TripAdvisor网站最近针对1700名美国人开展的调查中，22%的受访者称他们选择参加两到四天的短途游是出于经济原因，另有6%称是时间问题。 Ypartnership旅游行销公司首席执行官彼得•叶萨维奇表示，在过去十多年中，周末游一直是美国最受欢迎的休闲出行方式。 在去年经济低迷时期，周末游占到了美国假期出游的一半。 叶萨维奇说：“对美国人来说，度假是‘天赋人权’，不管道•琼斯经济指数有多低，失业率有多高，多数美国人仍然会去度假。” 他还表示，在上世纪80年代到90年代的经济繁荣时期，就业率和双收入家庭数量持续攀升,人们当时的工作习惯改变了度假观。 他说：“在当时，工作习惯开始限制度假方式。人们更加感激工作所得，因此利用周末出游成为趋势。” 他表示互联网加速了这种趋势，最近的经济危机更使这一趋势成为定势。 他说：“在1996年以前，人们还觉得周六必须休息，而这种观念在如今连轴转的工作环境中已经不复存在了。” Travelocity旅游公司的吉纳维夫•布朗称，秋季一直是短途游的旺季，因为孩子们都开学了，家长没有太多时间。 布朗说：“大家仍然爱度假，但更不舍得花钱了。度个短假才更现实。” 相关阅读 （中国日报网英语点津 Julie 编辑冯明惠） |
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Vocabulary: break the bank: ruin one financially, exhaust one's resources（花光，倾家荡产） go with the flow: to cope with adversity; to accept one's lot（顺其自然，随遇而安） stuck in the doldrums: 陷入低迷 |
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