Gap years aren't just for A-level students, says Sally Broom. And workplaces are adapting to suit

Generation gap ... escaping the office to travel can be tricky. Photograph: Anthony Redpath/Corbis

Amid the fraught panic of A-level results and renewed gap-year debates this week, young gappers have been demonised for their supposed indulgent adventures. But instead of slinging abuse at "gaptastic" youngers, should we not remember that we might all be gappers soon?

We still associate year-out travel with 18 year olds and yet the biggest growing sector within the market is the 55+ age group. What's more we're all on a quest to take life more slowly (food, work, travel), as part of the so-called slow movement. But does this open up gap travel to all, or does it actually increase the gap itself between affluent travellers and those poor in time and money?

The big question regards the age groups in between: how feasible is it for those in the workplace to follow the emerging trend of slow travel? We may need more than the standard 20-odd holiday days if we want to see the world beyond a tiny radius surrounding our house. With more and more people trying to cut down on the number of flights to reduce their carbon emissions, the future of travel will be staying longer and making the journey from A-to-B part of the experience.

These days it's not just the city graduate schemes at the big banks and consultancy firms that are becoming gap-friendly, offering opportunities to defer start dates or take sabbaticals. Other industries are adapting, too. The NHS has been seen to encourage its employees to take time off in bulk.

And, at the end of last year, a poll by Select Appointments found fewer Christmas bonuses were being handed out and, in their place, longer holidays were offered. This is something that has been noted by psychologists: a monetary bonus has integral drawbacks due to taxation and a feeling of guilt if spent frivolously; holiday time is an easier, guilt-free reward.

The growing trend of working away from the office is also giving us more flexibility to travel. Emma Jones of consultancy firm Enterprise Insight says, "People who work from home tend to have chosen this route so they can grow the business, while maintaining a good work/life balance." All this is indicating a move towards adapting "slow lifestyles".

So will we all be taking gaps of various lengths and themes in years to come? Will "going anywhere nice this year?" conversations at hairdressers be more likely to get the response, "Well, we haven't been abroad for a while so we're going overland to China and back with the family"?

· Sally Broom is the founder of travel networking site Your Safe Planet

· For more on gap years, see Travel's special issue in the Guardian newspaper tomorrow