Newmarket Holidays has launched a campaign to encourage people to take a ‘pre-retirement sabbatical’ after finding that a quarter of adults over 50 want to travel more.
The escorted tours operator will introduce its own sabbatical policy for staff in 2027, and in the meantime it has recruited Race Across the World stars Margo Oakley and brother-in-law Mark Blythen to head a consumer campaign to ‘champion the joy and vitality of travelling later in life’.
The campaign includes a blog post from the pair on Newmarket’s website, where they share their travelling tips.
Newmarket said its own research revealed that 20% of people over 50 said they would remain more loyal to their current employer if it introduced a sabbatical policy.
Also, one in five employees said they would delay leaving or taking early retirement if their company allowed a pre-retirement career break.
The study of over-50s also found that 32% have the money and urge to travel more, with a quarter dreaming of seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland and 20% wanting to take a luxury train trip across Europe.
“The hesitation to unlock these travel dreams is heavily rooted in concerns around returning to work after taking an extended holiday,” according to Newmarket.
It said that a quarter of mature workers worry that requesting a sabbatical would lead to them being permanently excluded from the job market. One in 10 are also concerned about their colleagues viewing them taking a sabbatical as ‘a sign of slowing down’, it said.
To encourage its own staff to take a sabbatical, Newmarket will introduce a new policy from 2027, allowing both full and part-time employees with at least 10 years’ continuous service to take between one and 12 months’ leave, once every five years.
“The data clearly shows that many over-50s are caught in a travel limbo. The retirement age may have slipped a little farther away, but their urge to explore the world certainly hasn’t. Instead, some find themselves trapped between the fear of ageism-based discrimination if they step away from their careers, and the burning desire to travel,” said Newmarket CEO Niel Alobaidi.
“That is exactly why we have launched this campaign alongside Mark and Margo, who embody the spirit that adventure doesn’t come with an expiration date.
“By formalising our own sabbatical policy, we want to lead by example, proving that enabling older working Britons to recharge actually keeps them in the workforce longer and fights burnout.
“For those mature travellers who do make the leap, we know that taking an extended break can feel daunting logistically. Newmarket Holidays is designed to strip that stress away entirely.”
