In the article “Times are tight – but there’s always cash for a holiday” Sarah Barrell says that British holiday makers are not going to let a little thing like the nationwide credit crunch stop it heading off to the beach! Oh no!
Despite all the ‘hoo-har’ about saving money, the great British public are still intent on having their summer holiday. The UK travel sector has reported a growth rather than a decline as one would expect as a result of a country tightening its belt! It seems nothing is going to dampen our spirits.
According to a recent poll, over 75% of holiday-goers consider a holiday away essential. In addition, a self catering accommodation website revealed its takings were well excess of recent years. Instead of cancelling their holidays, customers appear to be looking for holiday destinations where they can get a competitive exchange rate.
Another sign of things to come, is that people are less likely to take a weekend break and have lots of little trips throughout the year. This is due to the actual cost of travel. Twenty five per cent of people questioned were signalling a preference to single holidays annually. Things have turned on their heads in recent months, that we are witnessing the beginnings of a trend towards the big summer holiday. To get the most from their money, 66% of people surveyed are seeking the best ‘deal’ for their holiday and tending to opt for a good old self catering set up.
The self catering sector is on the brink of a boom. In 2006 Mintel claimed 14.9 million package holidays were booked as opposed to 22 million self catering holidays. Mintel expects this figure to climb to 34 million in the next three years.
Things have changed in recent years. It wasn’t that long ago when people would pick up a travel brochure or look for cards in shop windows for self catering chalets at the beach. Nowadays, the market is observed and analysed off the Internet. Everybody has a website advertising their weekly holiday lets. It’s a similar story with travel insurance. You can now go online and get quotes from any number of insurers which has made the whole market ultra-competitive.
How much money do you save by going self-catering exactly? They say it reduces costs by quite a lot but all is not as it seems. Where holidaymakers can book into a hotel and spend double they would on a self catering holiday, many admit those savings pretty much all go on groceries (and you’ve got to do your own washing up!) as well as eating out.
Tags: credit crunch, package holidays, self catering holidays, travel insurance, uk travel