Spain? South of France? Santorini? Forget them all. This year, it’s all about the UK staycation.
Back in June when Boris Johnson gave the green light for domestic travel in England, a staycation was booked every eleven seconds, which really comes as no surprise when 73% of people didn’t take a single day’s annual leave back in April. Couples and families alike were more than ready to fill their car boot to the brim and flee their home.
With various travel restrictions still in place and drastic measurements being taken by governments around the world, travel within the UK is only becoming more and more appealing. With recent quarantine measures announced for those travelling to and from Spain or France, the Google search for ‘UK staycation’ has doubled in the last month (from July 5 th to August 2 nd ).
The global pandemic has completely transformed the way that we travel, and the way in which we want to travel. Passenger demand in April 2020 was down 94.3% compared to April 2019 (IATA) and while this is sure to be on the rise as we begin to come out the other side, we’re still certainly nowhere near back to normal.
The Google search for ‘UK staycation’ more than doubled between June and July and then doubled again between July and August and so the desire for a UK staycation is at an all-time high. Just to put it into perspective; when compared with the same period of time last year, the Google search for ‘UK staycation’ in August 2020 is a whopping 90% higher.
What does this mean for the UK? Well, £49 billion was spent abroad by tourists from the UK in 2019 and so it’s a sure sign that a vast amount of money will be spent on domestic tourism within the UK this year and potentially the next few years, too… great news for the UK hospitality industry.
The UK staycation is certainly on the rise and looks as though it’s here to stay. So, where to?