Some people need to be encouraged to take vacation

Stop making excuses. Start making plans.

That’s the message behind the second annual National Plan for Vacation Day. It’s an effort by the travel industry to persuade Americans to use Jan. 30 as a day to schedule their vacations for the year and take advantage of any paid time off they are entitled to from their jobs.

Destinations, tourism agencies and others in the travel industry are expected to offer promotions in conjunction with the effort. It will be promoted on social media with a #PlanForVacation hashtag.

Alamo, for example, will publicize vacation-planning tips and offer a 10 per cent discount on base rates for weekly car rentals (bookable Jan. 23-Feb. 6, for travel March 1-Aug. 30).

Las Vegas is also taking part in the campaign, planning a video showing entertainers taking over jobs of bartender and card dealer. A couple of visitors to the city will get a surprise trip as part of the promotion.

Last year, more than 600 organizations from all 50 states participated in National Plan for Vacation Day. Among them was Visit California, which used the campaign to publicize its annual California visitors guide.

“Our social media posts were liked and shared 29,000 times, all driving traffic to VisitCalifornia. com to get a guide and plan your trip,’’ said Visit California spokesman Ryan Becker. “

“We as Americans do not take enough time off,’’ said TV travel show host Samantha Brown, a spokeswoman for the effort.

“Unfortunately we do need a project to tell people to take time off. Americans leave on the table over 659 million paid vacation days. They let them go unused every year.’’