With all that flying, driving and excess towel washing at hotels, it used to be that travellers felt guilty about leaving a sizable ecological footprint while whooping it up on vacation. Now guilt comes from leaving footprints at all.
Consider Steve Jones, a radio programming executive in Halifax. He and his family are jetting off this summer for a trip of a lifetime to Croatia before cruising from Venice to Greece and Turkey. They're travelling with his father-in-law, Pepi Gini, who, at 71, is still spry enough to trek back to the homeland he left behind as a teenager and show his grandchildren around.
Yet although the vacation is one the family has been looking forward to for three years, Jones says he still feels more than a tinge of anxiety about letting some people in on his plans, particularly as the economy falters.
"You don't want to sound boastful at a time when people are cutting back. You don't want to look like that one person who just doesn't seem to care," he says.
Even brides are worried about what kind of guilt trip their friends and family could heap on them if their honeymoon plans seem a little too opulent.
"It's a whole new level of guilt," admits Jennifer Maguire, a senior-level vice-president at a marketing firm in New York who is in the final honeymoon planning stages for her summer wedding.
Her top pick? Hiking Machu Picchu in Peru, then spending a week ensconced in a luxury resort.
"But how can you do that without seeming obnoxious?" wonders Maguire, whose fiancé works for a hedge fund. "You don't want to seem ostentatious when you hear about people losing their jobs and you have friends sending their résumés around."
Of course, it's not only travel that has consumers sweating about looking unseemly for spending their cash. Since the financial meltdown last fall, media have gleefully reported on cases of "stealth wealth" in which the well-to-do (some would argue criminally so) asked for plain bags to carry home their Hermès attire. So considering the mood, it's no wonder trend spotters have zeroed in on a micro-trend: inconspicuous or stealth travel.
Put simply, tourists heading away for sun, culture or simple relaxation are feeling self-conscious about being able to afford travel when friends and family are struggling to pay the bills.
No wonder many are opting to either blend in with the locals while abroad or spring for isolated vacation properties where they can leave the doleful headlines behind, and escape familiar faces.
"Words like 'luxury' are quite taboo and over-the-top indulgence is gone. People want authenticity and value," says Liz Beatty of Caledon, Ont. The marketing director for HomesAway, a Toronto-based villa vacation company, recently travelled with her family to France's Dordogne region.
Still, she admits that she doesn't feel guilty in the least about spending around $10,000. "People thought I was crazy, but we're still basking in the glow of that vacation."
Industry experts agree. Ann Mack, the director of trend spotting for JWT, a New York-based trend-watching organization, says that in the toughest of times, vacations are as important, if not more than, ever. "I understand that people are hesitant to leave their desks for too long, especially when layoffs are happening around them," she says. "However, you need that time to rejuvenate and come back feeling brighter and better."
For those who do feel sheepish, one way to assuage the guilt over spending on travel is to book an all-inclusive vacation at some out-of-the-way resort, she says. Not only are you surrounded by people who have also shelled out $1,500 for a week of carefree sun and sand, but once that card number is logged, the wallet stays closed.
