From me experience at least in the US there is a moral component to more vacation. The managers I have dealt with acted a little as if wanting more vacation is a moral failing of the person.
That's just because the manager is then responsible for the work when people take vacation, so dissuading it as much as possible saves them time and stress personally.
Vacation is a big problem of you're running with just enough people to operate the business, which most are people are one of the most expensive parts of the business. Unless you're not doing anything time sensitive, mission critical, or customer facing, then being on vacation means someone is stretched to cover you.
It's not real. I've gotten that when asking for more money too. Running a guilt trip on employees or potential employees is a pretty standard tool of psychological manipulation and intimidation.
A manager whose bonus is on the line and who knows that they have no chance of getting an increase in holiday allowance approved is quite likely to do that.
