The U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Effect Initiative

The U.S. Travel Association - the voice of the U.S. travel industry - is on a mission. It wants to bring awareness of the benefits travel has on our productivity, organizational morale and our overall well-being. By promoting the benefits of travel through its website and its industry partners, such as ARDA (American Resort Development Association) the Travel Association wants to grow travel’s voice, advance pro-travel policies and communicate travel’s widespread impact.

Research Based

The information disseminated by Travel Effect is research based. Much of the research was gained from an online travel survey conducted between September and October 2013. The sample included 971 employees of various companies, 700 of whom receive paid time off as part of their employment benefits. Findings show that traveling is still not seen as an integral part of our lives, businesses and economy, but also show that when Americans do take time to travel there is a positive effect on their work productivity:
  • More than 3 in 4 HR professionals believe employees who use vacation time perform better than those who do not.
  • Six in ten organizations report employees fail to use 3+ days of paid vacation each year.
  • 85% of talent managers at “use it or lose it” organizations agree that employees who take time off are more productive in jobs.

With work done through Travel Effect, the Travel Association hopes to “change mindsets, shift American culture and motivate American workers to use more of their earned time off.”

Benefits of Travel 

Not only do the benefits of travel boost productivity and reduce burn-out. Travel has also been proven to increase creativity, and provide quality time and learning experiences that the entire family will benefit from. 
Other key findings from the study show the impact on our economy when Americans don’t use their vacation time to travel and what it would mean if they did use all their available paid time off:
  • The economy would benefit from more than $160 billion in total business sales and $21 billion in tax revenues, and from spending that would support 1.2 million jobs in retail, manufacturing and transportation industries.
  • It would mean an extra $73 billion in output for the U.S. economy, if employees would take just one additional day of earned leave each year.  

Website
Check out the Travel Effect’s website for the latest reports, fact sheets and infographics, on the economic, societal, business and personal impacts that travel can have on all of us.


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