The impact of travel and vacations on health is nothing new, but a recent study found surprising findings on the benefits of vacations on employee performance in particular and the country’s economy in general.
It is commonly accepted that travel and vacations have a positive impact on human health, especially mental health. However, some previous studies have raised questions about the validity of this, according to the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Do holidays negatively affect human health?
The Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW), the consulting firm Ernst & Young, commissioned an analysis of the issue of the effects of holidays on health. Ernst & Young found that people who traveled at least one week a year got significantly less sick than people who did not travel. The number of sick days for people who do not like to travel has reached 23 sick days per year, compared to only 14 days for holidaymakers, which saves health insurance a lot of money.
A range of positive effects on people, businesses and the economy were also monitored. People who went on vacation, regardless of age and income, rated their health more positively, were less concerned about their health, and had happier lives, Reise vor9 reported.
According to the analysis, travel and holidays have beneficial economic effects: in Germany, 8.8% of annual working days are lost due to illness. Thus, the total economic cost of the disease would represent 20% of GDP, or the equivalent of approximately 713 billion euros. In short, “the fewer the sick days, the lower the costs for the company and for the economy as a whole”.
