Cheeky Aussies extending Easter break with sickies

french bulldog dog with headache and hangover with ice bag or ice pack on head, eyes closed suffering , in bed resting and sleeping

By Vanessa Bussoletti

Australian employees are predicted to take more than four days off at Easter, and it’s by chucking a couple of sickies.

What’s that now?

21% of Aussie employees have extended a holiday with a sickie before
This is highest among 20-29 year olds, at 32%
Workers from the Northern Territory have extended their holiday with a sickie the most at 40%

Can’t fight figures, can you?

These findings come from a survey of a nationally representative, independent panel of 1000 Australian adults conducted by an independent research agency and commissioned by HotelsCombined.

The survey results further reveal that Australia’s youngest workers opt to take sick days for holiday reasons, with 32% of those in their 20s using sick days to extend or take holidays. This number drops consistently the older Aussie workers get: 26% among those in their 30s, and 19% of 40-somethings, compared with just 15% of over-50s.

Northern Territory residents are the biggest offenders when it comes to using sick days to take or extend a holiday at 40%. ACT follows (29% of respondents), then SA (26%), Victoria (25%), NSW (20%), Queensland (19%), WA (18%), and then Tasmania (8%).

Chris Rivett, Head of Marketing for HotelsCombined Australia and New Zealand said, “Most of these destinations have in common a flight time of 10 hours or less from Sydney, which is a little easier on our bodies when it comes to jet lag.

“Those taking a break here will likely take a couple more days off work to take into account the half day of travel.”

The most popular local and overseas destinations over Easter

Bookings data from HotelsCombined reveals Aussie families will likely be visiting extended family over Easter, with Sydney and Melbourne CBD as the most popular Easter destinations.

The forecast is based on the volume of bookings by Aussie holidayers from Good Friday to Easter Monday last year through HotelsCombined, which attracted nearly five million bookings in 2016 alone.

Top 10 domestic destinations over Easter:

Melbourne CBD
Sydney CBD
Surfers Paradise
Brisbane CBD
Southbank
Adelaide CBD
Perth CBD
Port Macquarie
Burswood

Top 10 international destinations over Easter:

Indonesia (Bali) – Legian
Indonesia (Bali) – Seminyak
New Zealand – Auckland CBD
Japan – Shinjuku
United States (Hawaii) – Waikiki
United States – Las Vegas Strip
Indonesia (Bali) – Kuta
Thailand – Patong
Thailand – Central Pattaya
Japan – Shimogyo Ward

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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