According to Hoseasons managing director, Simon Altham, the recent growth in domestic breaks is ‘not a new phenomenon’. Recent year on year growth seen by Hoseasons seems to signify a bit more than a short term trend.
Booking for UK breaks this summer were up 10% on last year, which was up on the previous year. In fact, the trend has been evident over the past five years.
As he rightly points out, the weather has little to do with the change in people’s holiday habits. The weather this summer has not been good, but it has not seen bookings drop, as noted, quite the reverse.
Two years ago we had a summer that would have explained the increase, it was so good that many industries were adversely effected by the balmy weather that seemed to last almost throughout the year. However last year did not follow suit either, but still an increase in domestic bookings was seen.
So what has cause this ‘sea change’ of habits? No doubt the horrific events in Tunisia will be playing on people’s minds, and the recent warnings about travel to Turkey will also have holidaymakers think again about their choice of destination.
But, that still leaves a lot of the world and the Med in particular with many safe destinations available. Mind you, for many people the act of getting on a plane and the hassle that means post 9/11 to be off putting as well, but again not really enough to entirely put you off a holiday abroad.
Maybe people are still simply feeling the pinch and this age of austerity has altered the ‘national mindset’. Despite media reports of economic recovery which may be true in certain parts of the country, there are millions who are simply not well enough off to hop on a plane.
Whatever the cause, it looks like the staycation is not going away which ironically in turn is good news for the domestic and more importantly local economies. Source
By: Gareth Whieldon
