73% respondents say they take the opportunity on holiday to focus on mental or physical wellbeing or both.Only 20% respondents have ever taken a holiday focused on their health.
New Delhi, September
26, 2013: TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site, revealed the results of their Health
and Fitness on Holiday survey which highlights that despite the holidaymaker’s
intention to focus on mental and physical health, vacations are
still largely times of abandon and not regulation.
According to Nikhil Ganju, Country
Manager, TripAdvisor India, “Some
findings from our Health and Fitness on Holiday Survey indicate that travellers
do aspire to be healthy on vacation. For example, 41% respondents claim they
take the opportunity to focus on physical health on holiday and 66% are saying
that eating healthy is important to them on vacation. But habits of majority of
the respondents illustrate that travellers can’t help but indulge themselves on
holiday.”
He further adds, “Intent seems optimistic for those planning health-focussed
vacations, with 58% respondents claiming they will go on one in the coming 12
months. However, 81% respondents accept that they have never taken a vacation
dedicated to improving their health.”
Tr-EAT on holiday
Food habits reveal that
Indians do intend to, and were making an effort to maintain their diet or opt
for healthier options on holiday. But in the spirit of the holidays, a
significant segment still gave in to indulgence.
A whopping 66% of
respondents claimed eating healthy is important to them on vacation. Despite
the claim, a substantial 46% confessed
to eating less healthy on holiday.
But it’s noteworthy that
32% respondents said they try and eat as they would at home, suggesting an
attempt to maintain their usual diet, and neither limit nor indulge their eating
habits on vacation and 23% said they chose eating more healthy on holiday.
Additionally, other healthy food practices that found takers were:
¾
38%
‘pack healthy foods or snacks to eat during the journey’
¾
36%
‘choose to order healthy menu items’
¾
19%
‘purposely choose accommodations where healthy foods are available’
However, dieting &
vacations don’t seem to get along as 23% of the surveyed said they stopped a
diet they were on, during vacation. Only 14% said they either started or
managed to maintain a diet on their holiday.
Vice is Nice on holiday
For most
Indians, vacations seem to offer the opportunity to further indulge or give in
to their vices, as:
¾
More than half or 57%
of those who drink concede to drinking more on holiday then they do at home
¾
43% of regular
smokers smoke more on holiday; also, 7% non-smokers admit they take to the
habit while vacationing.
‘Work-out’ not
working out for most holidaymakers
According to the survey,
71% respondents affirmed that fitness facilities are rarely or never a
consideration when choosing holiday accommodation. This alone is enough
indication of travellers’ enthusiasm towards exercising during holiday.
The
survey revealed that majority of 68% respondents don’t typically exercise on
vacation, while 76% claimed they do exercise at home.
The remaining group of 32%
who said they typically exercise on vacation cited their two primary motivators
to exercise were to maintain their fitness regimen (36%) and the fact that they
enjoy working out (22%). These fitness enthusiasts used their time to maintain
their fitness momentum and drove it further as 40% said they exercise the same
as they did at home while 25% claimed they actually exercise more on vacation
than they typically do at home. In fact 43% of those that exercise on vacation,
go well prepared with fitness accessories/equipment on holiday like workout
clothes or their own racquets etc.
Indulgent but not lazy
While he may neither exercise his body nor
restraint on some indulgences, the Indian traveller does enjoy a fair share of
activities on holiday.
¾
When planning activities to feel mentally
and physically healthy, spa treatments emerged as a favourite with 36% respondents
saying they plan to book spas.
¾
Among a list of popular physical
activities/exercises, the top 3 respondents mentioned they typically did on
holiday were, walking (77%), swimming (43%) and hiking (22%)
¾
Vacationers are not as lazy as we would
imagine as 51% respondents said they get up early to take advantage of the day.
Only 22% confessed to sleeping more than they do at home.
Guilt-free holidays
Holidaymakers
may see their vacations as a break from any rules of routine, so irrespective
of whether they curb or allow indulgence, they definitely don’t seem to be
weighed down by pangs of holiday guilt.
¾ 79%
said they rarely or never feel guilty after a vacation on account of
overindulgence in food
¾ Majority
of 52% said they never feel guilty about being unhealthy on trips
¾ 82%
rarely or never feel guilty about not exercising or not exercising enough on
holiday
Understandably, 87% respondents acknowledged feeling relaxed and
re-energised after a holiday.
