A five-day weekend?!

I do wish Easter Monday were a holiday in the U.S. as it is in Europe.

Here's a concept:

Group Wants Congress To Adopt 5-Day Weekend
Travel Campaign Says Americans Work Too Hard

POSTED: 7:25 pm CDT May 1, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's time to swap Tuesday for Friday, toss out the five-day workweek and allow hardworking Americans a little more down time -- preferably in western North Carolina.

With a straight face, that was the campaign message Tuesday of a group calling itself Friends of the Five Day Weekend that is trying to convince Congress to change the way Americans work - and don't work.

"Maybe our message is crazy," said Roy McCrerey, the organization's charismatic campaign director, as well as an Atlanta-based actor. "But I say our current situation is crazy. We need to fight crazy with crazy."

After all, he said, Congress was in session 104 days last year, which averages out to two days a week.

Behind the so-called grass roots effort is a bold new marketing move by the tourism industry in Asheville, a scenic city in the mountains of western North Carolina near the Blue Ridge Parkway. The idea started as a promotional gimmick by the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is spending more than $500,000 on the campaign.

The group used its "Work Less Express" bus, live music and giveaways Tuesday to raise awareness of unused vacation days and pressure Congress for a two-day workweek, conveniently mentioning that Asheville is a place to rest and recharge.

"Do I think it will work? No, but I like the idea," said Eddie David, who showed up at the lunchtime rally in downtown Charlotte. "People are overworked in the United States."

Supporters with picket signs reading "Work Less Live More" walked up and down the sidewalk. They greeted pedestrians and lured them to the rally with stickers, T-shirts and posters.

"I didn't believe it until I saw it," said Rob Simpson, as he gathered up his free goodies and started walking back to his job at Wachovia. "I'd be happy with a four-day workweek and a three-day weekend. Are they really trying to do this?"

With an event staff of about 15, the group has a Web site, a MySpace page and videos on YouTube. Its online and paper petitions to Congress have already drawn more than 2,000 signatures.

But visit the group's Web site, www.fivedayweekend.org, and click on "What To Do in Five Days," and users see that Asheville is behind the campaign. The site can be used to plan a five-day visit to the city.

Friends of the Five Day Weekend kicked off a five-city Southern tour in Asheville last month. The tour visited Atlanta and will end in Raleigh later this month.

"Yeah, it raises people's eyebrows," said Marla Tambellini, assistant vice president and director of marketing for the Asheville visitors bureau. "It's more than just visiting Asheville. The aim is to really get people to think about their vacation time and to not let work dominate the quality of their lives."

According to a 2007 survey by the travel Web site Expedia.com, Americans receive an average of 14 vacation days a year, compared to 36 days in France, 30 in Spain and 26 days in Germany.

The survey found that Americans see the value in vacation, but work can be a deterrent to taking vacations. About 19 percent of the 4,123 adults surveyed said they have canceled or postponed vacation plans because of work.

"I think a lot of people just never get to their vacation, let alone a long vacation," said John A. Challenger, chief executive of Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "I think we feel freer to take a long weekend."

The Asheville group is targeting tourists, but organizers aren't backing down from the campaign's stated federal aspirations.

"We have not ruled out that we can take this to Washington," Tambellini said. "At least we can make a statement."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.