Although Cautious, Spending on Holidays Expected to Have Risen in 2016

Spending on Holidays may have risen in 2016...

Photo by CC user Cayo Espanto Private Island on Wikimedia Commons

New research from an online travel agency showed that projects that British holiday makers would spend more on their holidays in 2016 have come true. Some 20% of people had stated that they would spend more than last year, while 15% stated that they would spend less. While data continues to be collected, it seems that there has been an overall increase since last year.

Consumers across the United Kingdom are appearing more optimistic about the future, which has been demonstrated by the fact that there has been a rise both in the number of British people going on holiday, and the number of holidays that each British person takes. There was a small but significant decline between 2013 and 2014, but it has been rising steadily ever since.

A UK based online travel agency, Sunshine, has completed a new piece of research that demonstrated:

  • 68% of people went on holiday in the UK at least once per year in 2015.

  • 53% of people went on holiday outside of the UK at least once per year in 2015.

It is expected that these figures will rise for 2016, particularly since there are more value for money packages available, a priority for around 66% of people.

A spokesperson for Sunshine says: “Obviously, while household budgets continue to be under pressure, people are still going on holiday. Consumer confidence continues to rise and with the summers of the last few years having been abysmal in most of the UK, it is perhaps not surprising that we are seeing a significant rise in the number of people who have been on holiday this year.”

The research also looked into how people took their holidays and found that:

  • People took 3 holidays on average in 2015, slightly down from last year.

  • 16% of people took more than three holidays per year, slightly up from last year.

  • The most popular holiday is seven nights overseas.

  • 41% of people went on holiday both in the UK and abroad, a significant rise since last year.

People are still under the influence of the recent financial crisis, however. As a result, what they look for is value for money. Sunshine found that:

  • 51% of people booked an overseas package, up from last year.

  • 62% of people booked packages because they want to have “everything taken care of”.

  • 61% of people believe a package deal offers the best value for money.

  • City breaks abroad were also becoming more popular.

What particularly interested the team at Sunshine, however, was that there was also an increase in people looking for brand new experiences. Specifically, they found that:

  • 35% of people plan to visit a new country.

  • 48% of people say they will visit a new resort or city if they go to the same country.

  • 49% of 16 to 24 year olds say they might try a new destination and 16% say they will.

  • 51% of those aged between 55 and 64 and 56% of the over 65s state that they would not visit a new country.

Another interesting factor revealed by the research was in terms of when people booked their holidays. In fact, some 36% of people booked it further in advance, a significant rise from last year. 51% of younger people booked early as well. The reasons for this were listed as being:

  • To be able to get time off work in 21% of cases.

  • To be able to access better choices in 28% of cases.

  • To get better availability in 51% of cases.

  • To find the best deals and prices in 59% of cases.

The last element of the research showed that the geographical areas with the least holidays abroad were Scotland, the East, and the North East. The most holidays abroad were experienced by those living in the North West and London. Clearly, spending on holidays is continuing, albeit with caution.