Flexibility when planning your holiday? Then you’ll be happier

The research question

Planning a holiday is complicated. You have to take into account work, family, the school calendar, your budget and the expectations of those around you. Researcher Ondrej Mitas from Breda University of Applied Sciences wondered whether greater flexibility in that planning also leads to more days off, longer holidays and greater well-being. It sounds logical, but it had never been scientifically tested – until now.

The theory behind the research stems from Deci and Ryan’s (2013) self-determination theory, which posits that autonomy, relatedness and competence are fundamental human needs. Mitas has applied this theory to holiday behaviour for the first time and investigated the hypothesis that people with greater flexibility book more holidays, take longer holidays on average and/or experience greater well-being.

The approach

For this study, 97 Dutch participants (recruited via the commercial panel Bilendi and via Sterrenscholen) were surveyed monthly during the summer of 2025, from June to September. The sample consisted of 57 per cent women, with an average age of 48. A conscious effort was made to include a high proportion of families with children (63 per cent) – well above the national average of 30 per cent – in order to determine, in particular, the role of school holidays.

Each month, participants completed a questionnaire covering:

• all holidays taken in the previous month (destination, duration and degree of flexibility)
• a rating of their most recent holiday (on a scale of 0–10)
• life satisfaction
• positive and negative emotions in daily life

This enabled the researchers not only to compare people with one another, but also to track the same individual from month to month.

The results

The good news: most Dutch people go on summer holidays. Three-quarters (76 per cent) took at least one holiday between June and September, averaging around three holidays per person. The average holiday duration was just over seven nights, with many long weekends and weeks away, sometimes two weeks, but rarely longer. The holidays were rated an average of 8 out of 10.

The flexibility score averaged 6.4 (on a scale of 0 to 10), but there was a striking pattern: around one in five people experience very low flexibility. The distribution is therefore not even, but there is a clear group that is really stuck.

The key findings:

• Flexibility is linked to positive emotions. People with greater holiday flexibility demonstrably feel better in their daily lives; even when adjusting for age, gender and labour force participation.
• Flexibility leads to higher ratings of holidays. In months where the most recent holiday was perceived as more flexible, that holiday was also rated more highly.
• Flexibility does not lead to more or longer holidays. Those with greater freedom do not go on holiday more often or for longer periods. The relationship is mediated exclusively through well-being and holiday satisfaction.
• School-age children are not the culprit. There was no difference whatsoever in the perception of flexibility between households with and without school-age children. This is striking, given the common complaint about fixed school holidays.

The recommendations

The researchers are directing their message specifically at the travel industry and society as a whole. Flexibility is not just pleasant: it demonstrably makes holidays happier. Three concrete recommendations:

• Put autonomy at the heart of your offering. Customers enjoy planning their holidays most when they have clear choices, user-friendly interfaces, and the feeling that they are in control.
• Continue to lobby for greater flexibility. Even if schools are not the direct cause of inflexibility, they should be part of the solution. A flexible holiday is a happy holiday.
• Measure both the planning experience and the travel experiences. Validated measurement tools are indispensable for data-driven decisions in the sector — both before and during the holiday.

Source: Ondrej Mitas, Breda University of Applied Sciences (2025). “A flexible holiday is a happy holiday.” Presented on the basis of longitudinal panel research among 97 Dutch households, summer 2025.