The European lead is striking. According to recent statistics, Americans have an average of just two weeks off each year. In Europe, by contrast, at least a month of paid vacation is viewed as an inalienable right. The Italians get 42 days of holiday a year; the French, 37 and the Germans, 35.            Even the British, with their more American business culture, still take an average of 28 days off a year. In August, the height of the holiday season, much of Europe simply closes down. There is simply no point in trying to get anyone to do any work. Taking a long summer holiday is so crucial to European self-esteem that a survey showed that more than a third of Italians who stay at home during the extended time off intended to pretend that they were going away. Considerable numbers were prepared to buy tanning machines and to take the pets to the neighbors to maintain appearances.          Naturally, people’s inclination for taking longer holidays represents a mammoth business opportunity for the tourism and travel industry, by some measures, the world’s largest industry. Figures from the World Tourism Organization suggest that most international tourists travel to or within Europe, giving Europe a 58% share of the world tourism market. Of the top eight destinations, five are in Europe; France tops the list, followed by Spain, the United States and Italy. 

   These figures, however, may mislead. Some 80% of vacationers within the European Union are from other parts of the EU. France’s top place owes much to the country’s inherent attractions but also quite a lot to its geographical position. Every Dutch or Belgian caravan thundering through France towards the beaches of Spain adds to the figure of foreign visitors to France.

    Still, there is no doubt about the economic weight of tourism in Europe. Indeed, any sign that the flow of tourists is slowing is greeted with neurotic headlines. Yet while Europe cannot live without tourists, it sometimes finds it hard to live with them. The city authorities in Venice are so fed up with some visitors’ behavior that they have just announced a list of 10 offences for which they will impose on-the-spot fines. Improprieties including walking around bare-chested and bathing in fountains, even in the torrid summer, are on the list. Spaniards and Greeks find the hordes of riotous, boozy young Britons that descend on them each summer a mixed blessing. 

   Such excesses of mass tourism will certainly do nothing to puncture Europe’s love affair with the long holiday. Those unfortunate souls charged with managing the European economy are having to factor holidays into their thinking. Analysis has shown that a large part of the wealth gap per head between Europeans and Americans could be attributed to Europeans’ preference for taking longer holidays. The figures certainly show that when they are actually in their offices, the Germans, French and Dutch (though not the British) are more productive than Americans. 

   But not everyone is as sanguine about this state of affairs. Hopeful talk by some European politicians of building up the European Union as a new superpower is likely to prove vain so long as the EU’s economic growth lags so markedly behind that of the United States—not to mention China’s. Germany’s labor minister recently caused a stir by arguing that Germans ought to work more and take less holidays. Some of his countrymen may even be taking these strictures to heart. 

   Germans traditionally take more foreign holidays per head than all other Europeans, but this year, German travel agents say that bookings are substantially down. Some attribute this to a new mood of economic insecurity. Perhaps there is a selfcorrecting mechanism in Europeans’ taste for leisure over work. If the measures were taken too far, might the economy slow down so much that people no longer feel secure or rich enough to take the usual five weeks off?

       Birth rates are plummeting in many countries, causing concern among politicians in Japan and South Korea regarding the future economic sustainability of their nations. A recent conference held in Italy has addressed the 16 demographic crisis that the country faces. Italy currently has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, and the government is cautioning about the significant    17    that an aging population will place on pensions and the welfare system. Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, has cautioned that the affordability of raising children is    18    out of reach for numerous couples, describing the endeavor of starting a family in Italy as an    19    task reserved for the wealthy elite.
       Pope Francis has encouraged Italians to have more children despite rising costs. He admonished young couples against making “selfish,    20    ” decisions that contribute to record-low birth rates, asserting that such choices    21    Italy’s economic future. Referring to the situation as a “demographic winter,” he    22    attention to the fact that Italy experienced a historically low number of births last year, totaling 392,000,    23    the number of deaths remained high at 713,000. The Pope urged couples to    24    having children over owning pets and even    25    a woman who sought his blessing for her “baby,” which turned out to be a dog. The BBC referred to Italy as “the country of empty cribs” and quoted Elon Musk’s tweet stating, “Italy is disappearing.”