The three working days separating Easter and Anzac Day - between Easter Monday and Anzac Day on Friday, April 25 - are all that stand between working people and 10 uninterrupted days off. This configuration of the calendar not been seen since 2003.

Many businesses are encouraging staff to take time off to anticipate the decrease in demand for their services. And increasing the likelihood of Sydney turning into a ghost town are school holidays and an unusual alignment in the Gregorian and Roman calendars which means that half a million Orthodox Christians will be celebrating Easter at the same time as Protestants and Catholics this year.

There will only be five more such configurations between now and 2056, so people are taking advantage of the present one.

Hoteliers say bookings are at Christmas-break-like highs. Budget motels are reporting almost double the bookings.

For the true idler, who has not flipped over the calendar or filled in the forms and has missed these opportunities, there is always the sick day.

Historical trends show that the number of people calling work to report food poisoning in the days between the public holidays should rise by about a quarter, consulting firm DHS says.

All this indolence comes at a price. "The economic cost of lost production [in NSW] over the next few weeks will be billions," says Stephen Smith, director of national industrial relations at the Australian Industry Group.

The estimated productivity cost to the economy is $800 million for every day NSW workers collectively take off.

But many of those who work in hospitality and other industries that do not close down stand to collect record fortnightly pay packets.

And they will be travelling to work on roads where peak hour is almost a memory.

Transport Management Centre head Phil Akers expects morning traffic into the CBD to be reduced by more than the usual 5 per cent experienced during school holidays, and up to 20 per cent lower on the public holidays.

As little as a 5 per cent reduction could translate into as much as one-third fewer morning commuters, which could mean getting a seat on the train.

Sydney is so much more liveable when no one else is in it.