The spread of the staycation

The staycation - an ugly neologism for the decision of many American consumers to stay at home this summer, instead of heading to Disney World or some beach resort. Rising food and gas prices have led to hard times for much of America's tourism industry, as this article in Slate points out. But it looks like Americans aren't the only ones resorting to a staycation. A press release out today (in Russian) from the Levada Center reports the results of a survey of urban Russians on their summer actitives last year. It looks like some 43 percent of respondents said that they didn't take a vacation in 2007 ("не был(а) в отпуске").

In May 2008, the Levada Center released the results of another survey (in Russian) that gives a picture of Russians' vacation plans across a number of years. Respodents were asked about their summer plans each year from 1997 to 2008. One of the options was "We're not going on vacation, there's no money for it." ("не поедем отдыхать, нет денег") The number of respondents giving this answer declined from 25 percent in 2001 to 17 percent in 2006 - a reflection of the respectable economic growth Russia experienced during this period. However, there has been a slight uptick in the last two years - 22 percent of Russians in 2008 said there wasn't enough money for a vacation. I just wonder if the Russians have managed to come up with a neologism as horrible as "staycation"?