Gap widens between holiday ‘haves and have-nots’: ABTA
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The number of holidays booked by Brits is on the rise, but it’s being driven by just three quarters of the population, new ABTA research released on the first day of the 2015 Travel Conference has found.
While the average number of holidays taken per person increased slightly from 3.0 holidays 2014 to 3.2 holidays in 2015, the total number of people taking a holiday dropped from 80% last year to 77% this year, the association’s Holiday Habits Report 2015 has revealed.
It’s a trend ABTA has dubbed the holiday “haves and have-nots”, with “pressure on household finances” cited as the key reason for the decrease in the number of British holidaymakers.
In 2011, 95% of those classified as social grade A and 81% of those classified as social grade E, said they took a holiday. In 2015, 95% of those in grade A still took a holiday but just 49% of those in grade E did so, found the ABTA research, which was released to the press at the association’s conference in Greece.
Affluent holidaymakers also appear to be taking more holidays per person, suggesting that they are one of the driving forces behind market growth.
Those classified as social grade A took an average of 8.0 holidays per person last year, up from 7.4 holidays per person in 2011. Those people classified as social grade E took an average of 1.7 holidays per person in 2015, approximately half the 3.0 holidays they took in 2011.
The report also revealed people living in London took a total of 4.4 holidays per person in the last year, well over the national average of 3.2 holidays – and more than twice as many holidays as people in Northern Ireland.
After Londoners, people in the North West (3.5 holidays) and West Midlands (3.2 holidays) respectively were the nation’s most prolific holidaymakers.
The overseas market appears to have benefitted most from the increase in the number of holidays taken per person.
In 2014 holidaymakers took an average of 1.2 overseas holidays; in 2015 this had changed to 1.5 overseas holidays, with a particular increase in the number of trips for seven-plus nights.
ABTA cited the strong pound against a range of foreign currencies, in particular the Euro, against which it reached an eight-year high in July 2015, as a key reason for this trend.
“The travel industry has seen a steady return to growth in recent years following the credit crunch and worldwide economic crisis,” said ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer.
“It is very encouraging to see optimism and growth with many people choosing to take more holidays, particularly longer overseas breaks. However, some people are clearly still feeling the pinch and are either cutting back on the number of holidays, or not taking a holiday at all. This suggests the ‘long-tail’ of the recession is still having an impact on people’s ability to afford at least one holiday a year.”
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