Every seventh worker in the UAE feels vacation-deprived, according to a recent survey conducted by Expedia. The reason for that may have just been discovered, or at least a new entrant in the local travel market claims so. A research by Wego ranks UAE among the countries with the least public holidays in the world. Surprising? Indeed, especially for parents who have to cope with the multiple school holidays of their children!
- Read more: UAE Public Holidays 2015 Revealed
According to the report, workers in the UAE are expected to get 11 public holidays this year. That is nearly two times less compared the number of public holidays in India. People living in the second largest in the word country will enjoy 21 public holidays in 2015. That means that India will have the most public holidays this calendar year.
Nevertheless, UAE is not at the very bottom of this interesting ranking. There are a few other countries that get even less than 11 days of public holidays. For instance, the U.S., New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal and Australia will get only 10 days this year. Serbia, Germany and Hungary, on the other hand, will be entitles to only 9. If you are living in the U.K., Canada or Spain you might be quite disappointed to learn that you will celebrate just 8 days of public holidays in 2015.
Workers in Mexico, however, are those who will get the least public holidays this year – barely 7. The good news for them is that the government has the habit to approve other optional public holidays.
If you want to enjoy more public holidays and fewer days at work, you should relocate to some country in Asia. Apart from India, which leads the list, a number of other Asian countries are also expected to enjoy a decent number of public holidays in 2015. For instance, China and Hong Kong will both have 17 and Thailand 16. Japan and Malaysia are also well-set when it comes to public celebrations and will get 15 days each this year.
Countries with most public holidays in 2015: India (21), Colombia (18), Philippines (18), China (17), Hong Kong (17).
Living in Europe is also not a bad option when it comes to public holidays. Although Spain, the U.K., Germany and Serbia are at the bottom of the ranking, most European countries are somewhere in the middle with 13 public holidays. Among them are Norway, Austria and Belgium.
What is worse in UAE – private sector gets always less ‘Public’ holidays when the Government employees always get a day or two more each occasion. Compounding this is the fact that when holidays clash with a week-end, no extra off days are given in Private Sector.