Staycations up by a quarter this summer, research suggests

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The number of British people opting to take domestic holidays this summer is up by as much as quarter over last year, research reveals.

The unfavorable exchange rate and unpredictable political landscape have attributed to the rise in staycations, it is suggested. To that we should also add that there are still many who literally cannot afford to go abroad as they have not had a pay rise for many years.

A 23.8% rise in British holidaymakers planning UK stays for summer 2017 was identified based on searches and bookings made between October 2016 and January 2017 to depart from June to August this year.

UK trips are getting shorter too, as the data indicated that more than half of domestic holidaymakers are planning a break of three days or less – up 8.8% from last year.

A notable decline of 5.2% was found in the number of UK travelers planning a staycation of 12 days or more, however this group still accounts for 16.6% of the total. The top five UK destination cities this summer are London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester.

While staycation bookings are up, Spain remains the top summer destination for UK holidaymakers, followed by with Italy, Greece and Portugal, though France has dropped out of the top five this year despite being the third most popular destination for Britons in 2016.

With Sterling plummeting 13% against the US dollar and dropping 9% against the euro since the EU referendum vote last June, we are seeing a notable uplift in UK tourists opting to holiday at locations at home. Others will be vacationing at home at home, so to speak, in that they are not going to any resort or anything of that nature.

We have seen that stay-at-home staycations have become very popular over the last couple of years ever since the Great Recession and austerity in Britain and this could be seen in the local Parks with a serious increase of visitors.

We have seen an almost a 25% year-over-year increase in people opting for staycations in the UK this summer rather than going abroad and over half the people are planning shorter trips for less than three days. That trend has seen an increase of almost 10% over the previous year.

For some, as mentioned, opting for a staycation at UK destinations (and even altogether at home) is closely tied to the unfavorable exchange rate between Sterling and Euro since the Brexit vote but, in my opinion, it has also a great deal to do with lack of cash flow, so to speak, as many workers who would have traveled to destinations on the European mainland just cannot really afford to do so.

Other concerns, no doubt, are those of security and the ever increasing restrictions of what you can and cannot take with you on an aircraft nowadays, with regards to terrorism concerns. Check-in rimes are getting longer and also the check-out, so to speak, on the other end. And on the way back you have a repeat performance creating hassle and stress which almost requires another holiday to get over it.

Personally I cannot think of any better kind of holiday, vacation, than staying at home and spending it there.

© 2017

And granny came too - families unite on holiday front

Many families will be packing more than suitcases into their cars for this year's summer holidays - they will also be making room for grandma and granddad.

That's the finding of a major holiday parks group, Best of British, which reports a growing trend for couples with kids to join up with grandparents for holidays.

Although the move helps spread holiday costs, says the group, many families are also motivated by wanting to spend quality time together outside their busy working lives.

The growth of three-generation holidays has been pinpointed by Best of British among the 50-plus independent holiday parks in its membership.

Many parks say their 2012 bookings show that a record number of holidays this year will be taken by extended family groups going away together.

Best of British chairman Claire Jeavons says that although pressure on household budgets is a likely factor behind the trend, there were other good reasons to team-up with gran and grandpa:

"Multi-generation holidays were once more common in Britain, but became less practical - and with fewer savings benefits - as overseas holidays gained popularity," said Ms Jeavons.

"Now, though, British stay-cations are gaining ground, and families are using the opportunity to come together and enjoy each other's company in neutral territory away from home.

"As well as sharing the expenses, it also means mum and dad have a built-in child care service so that they can make an occasional escape and be just a couple again," she added.

Parks belonging to the group, said Ms Jeavons, are mainly family-owned businesses at the top end of the holiday parks market, and were often quick to spot changing dynamics.

"Our experience is that a wide range of ages creates the most relaxed atmosphere for everyone," said Ms Jeavons who helps manage her family business of Beverley Holidays in Paignton, South Devon.

Members of Best of British can be found throughout the UK, and variously provide caravan holiday homes and lodges, plus pitches for touring caravans, motorhomes and tents.

More information can be found on-line at www.Bob.org.uk

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Staying home for the holidays

by Michael Smith

Apparently due to the credit crunch and such like phenomena, that is to say the economy being on a downward trend, people largely stayed at home for this year's Thanksgiving holidays.

Travelers breezed through airport terminals and drivers cruised on open roads. The effects of a sour economy seem to keep people staying closer to home at the start of the annual winter holiday season. One can but wonder whether this is a signs of the times to come.

Staycations already started this summer in the same way as people were making fake aways (as we would call it over int he UK while the US might call it fake outs... the fake versions of take aways and take outs).

Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. First of all we are reducing our environmental footprint for one and secondly it also cuts down on stress.

With the economy having taken an further downturn since summer when the staycations and such started slowly to make inroads it would appear that it might just be possible that there will be more of then to come over the 2008 holiday period of Hanukkah and Christmas. As said, not a bad thing. The planet will breathe a sigh of relief as well to this and so will the pocketbooks of those that stay home.

As to the year 2009 and the vacation period in summer and other times; if the current trend is anything to go buy with people turning the pennies over more than once we may actually see more staycations. It certainly will not be a bad thing. Too many people take who go one vacations far afield do so, often, on the, what we call in the UK the “never never”, that is to say on credit, and in addition to that they seem to need a vacation when they come back from their vacation.

While I must say that I am happiest at home, regardless where home may be, coming from Romani-Gypsy stock – but it has to me my home – I have never been able to understand why anyone would want to go abroad for a vacation – too much like hard work to me – especially those people that have lovely homes and lovely gardens. With prospects like that I'd vacation at home any day.

“Oh”, they say, “we go for the sea and the sun.” So they flock to the Costa del Sol and other such places and do what? They spend all day by the pool, the majority of them at least – not even the sea – under a sun umbrella. If I want to spend my vacation under an umbrella I stay in Britain. Mind you, that's where I stay anyway.

I rather go and travel the local and not so local countryside and enjoy the forests and the hills and, if the weather is warn and sunny, I might even go to the seaside. But that is for the day and not to stay there in some hotel or such. But then, as said, that is me.

However, the way things look we will be seeing a lot more people doing the same and a good thing this will be too.

While I know that this will have an adverse impact on areas and places that depend on (foreign) tourists the planet certainly will thank all those of us why opt for the staycation rather than the vacation abroad. The environmental footprint of our vacation should concern us as much as the environmental footprint of our computers, our TV and our heating, etc. But many people do not seem to see that problem in regards with vacations and such. Whichever way we travel on vacation, unless it be by bicycle or by horse, has a big environmental footprint, regardless of plain, automobile or train. Unless human or animal powered the impact is rather big and costly, and not just for you who pays the financial bill.

As far as I am concerned I can have a much better time with a vacation at home, a staycation, than with one abroad, and I do save big bucks that way, and have a much lower impact on the planet. Both things that I like to consider.

I just wonder how many other people see it that way as well, or in a similar light.

© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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