Facebook fuels copycat holidays – study
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
One in four Brits have booked a holiday after suffering from holiday envy over a friend’s foreign trip, a new study has revealed. A Teletext Holidays study found that after viewing someone’s holiday snaps, increasingly via social networking websites, three quarters of people admit they often become jealous and more than a quarter (27%) end up booking their own holiday soon after.
One in 10 also admitted to arranging their own holiday after hearing about a friend’s trip, despite not previously having planned to go away anywhere. And almost a fifth of Brits have even booked an identical trip, right down to the same hotel, apartment or villa, after hearing about someone else’s getaway.
Teletext Holidays found that the rise in popularity of social networking is adding to the jealous streak, with more than half of respondents putting their holiday snaps on their Facebook profile. And a quarter also regularly updated their social networking profile during their trip, with details about their holiday.
After seeing the Facebook photos on a friend’s profile, 13 per cent of people have gone on to book a similar holiday, while another six per cent have arranged a break after seeing someone’s status. A further 10 per cent of Brits have also booked their own trip abroad after discovering they were the only one of their friends, relatives or work colleagues not to have gone to a certain destination.
Mark Bloxham, marketing director of Teletext Holidays, commented; “It’s not surprising that holiday envy is on the rise. Social networking sites make it easier than ever to gloat about where you’ve been or where you are going.
“More people are updating their status from their sunlounger or posting photos of themselves at the airport, on the beach or next to a world famous landmark, so it’s not surprising that anyone reading it wants some of the excitement for themselves.
“New technology means that the minute you’ve booked a holiday you can immediately share that information with friends – who can then go on to book exactly the same trip,” Bloxham added.
The study of 3,000 Brits found that 58 per cent have been envious after looking through friends’ or relatives’ holiday photos, while 12 per cent have even refused to look at the snaps because they were too jealous, while another 11 per cent won’t listen to holiday tales.
And Australia was named as the destination most likely to leave others feeling jealous, followed by the Caribbean islands of the Bahamas and Barbados. The USA, Maldives, New Zealand, Mauritius, Seychelles and Canada also featured in the top ten.
The study also revealed however, that one in ten Brits have lied about how much fun they’ve had on a holiday to impress friends or colleagues.
Comments are closed.