A close-to-home vacation may help keep your job

A leisurely vacation in the south of France? Forget about it. It's time to bid adieu to any hope of a two-week trip to the Riviera and say, "Hello, Six Flags."

Such is the wisdom that may be gleaned from a report out today from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement consulting firm.

With gas prices getting close to $4 a gallon and with job insecurity rampant, Americans may want to consider shorter vacations close to home, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said.

"The twice-a-year week-long vacation, which has already supplanted the once-a-year two-week vacation as the staple of annual American leisure time, may now give way to the shorter but more frequent long weekend - three- and four-day getaways - as it becomes increasingly difficult for American families to afford longer vacations, both monetarily and professionally," the firm said in a release titled, "Will There Be a Vacation Season?"

John A. Challenger, chief executive of the firm, added in a statement: “As workers become more concerned about job stability, their vacation requests are likely be for fewer days and will include the caveat that they will check e-mail and be available for work calls. Those who are out-of-touch for a week or more will be remembered, and not in a good way, particularly if some type of crisis arises during the absence."

So take that BlackBerry to Six Flags. After all, Six Flags Inc. recently announced that its theme park in Agawam has lowered its main-gate price.

Six Flags New England said its "new family-friendly main gate ticket price" is $39.99, a $10 reduction from the 2007 season and the lowest price since 2004.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)