Canberra has a problem: Australians take few holidays and almost always to go abroad

In Italy, workers are frequently accused of calling in sick on match day or, more generally, of finding every opportunity to extend their absences, for holidays or sickness. At the antipodes the opposite happens. Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson is not happy with Australian workers. What is happening is a "disgrace": they don't take enough holidays, they accumulate them, they always stay in the office. If, on the other hand, they went around, tourism would benefit. And Mr. Ferguson isn't happy with the Australian dollar either: he's too strong and encourages people to take holidays abroad instead of in Australia. The fact is that Australians suffer from the 'tyranny of distance: they feel isolated, at the end of the world, and want to make the 'big trip', to be absent for two or three months. And so they accumulate the holidays…
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/australians-hoarding-annual-leave-a-disgrace-ferguson-20110609-1ftsq.html