The Star Tribune ran a story this week entitled "If you value your work, take a vacation." It was written by guest columnist, Chuck Slocum of the Williston Group, a local management-consulting firm.

Mr. Slocum cites information from several sources including Project: Time Off, a major initiative of the U.S. Travel Association. Meet Minneapolis is a longtime member of that association, which has a stated mission of increasing travel to and within the United States.

Project: Time Off astutely illuminated the fact that Americans leave 705 million vacation hours on the shelf, annually. Much of this is fueled by our increasingly busy lifestyles and the often overstated sense of urgency that we have developed. Technology has made us so accessible that we feel guilty not answering an email or text in two minutes or less.

For those of us who may erroneously think that our work won’t go on in our absence, it’s time for a dose of reality. They’ll figure it out without us being there, whether it’s for a week or two or longer!

In fact, getting that recharge or rejuvenation might be just the attitude adjustment we need to reclaim the peak productivity we may have lost because of possible burnout.

According to U.S. Travel Association, fewer Americans left vacation time on the table in 2017 – although a majority still reported having unused vacation time at year end. That is a promising trend.

Project Time Off reports that an increase in vacation usage from 16.8 to 17.2 days delivered a $30.7 billion impact to the U.S. economy. (Their numbers, not ours!) It also produced an estimated 217,200 total jobs and generated almost $9 billion in additional income for Americans. In our community, where 36,000 jobs support our tourism economy, this could have a dramatic impact as we promote the joys of travel.

So while Meet Minneapolis is focused on encouraging visitors to select us as a destination, we are also interested in promoting a culture of travel across this nation and around the world. If enough people are traveling and view it as a benefit, then we can bank on getting our fair share. So go ahead, take a vacation and encourage a friend to take one…..to Minneapolis.