Staycation Boom In The UK!
Bookings For UK Holidays Are On The Up!
Staycations can be loosely defined as holidays spent in one’s own country or region, as opposed to travelling abroad. The term has been around for quite a few years, with the concept being coined after the financial crisis of 2007-2008 when many households chose to spend their holidays discovering their more immediate surroundings. However, the reasons for ‘staycation-ing’ have evolved, and their popularity has increased over the years.
According to reports, passenger demand in April 2020 decreased by approximately 94% compared to April 2019, highlighting the uncertainty and apprehension during the pandemic. It quickly became clear that the UK would see an increase in ‘staycations’ in the following 2 years, defining a new trend, with more tourists choosing to explore our own beaches, forests, and hills rather than travel abroad.
The impact of post-Covid-19 life changed everyone’s version of reality and the cultural hangover from the lockdowns, social distancing, mask-wearing, testing and mass vaccinations have forever changed how we plan into the future.
Economic and financial constraints exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis, airport uncertainties, and an unstable Europe have added to the growing, evolving trend ‘to rediscover one’s own shores’ in an attempt for more sustainable tourism.
Rising awareness around the environmental impacts of mass tourism has led more and more travellers to ditch long-haul flights in favour of consciously reducing their carbon footprint.
Meanwhile, tourism businesses across the UK are also experiencing this increase in demand for staycations, with reports highlighting a surge of up to 40% in website traffic over the summer. Businesses such as Sykes Holiday Cottages, one of the largest rental sites for cottages in the UK, have experienced a 50% increase in bookings compared to 2019, really underlining the current demand for staycations. And it is against this backdrop that European holiday lodge company Landal GreenParks has announced that it intends to open nine new UK sites this year (2022) – bringing their total number of UK holiday parks to 19.
According to Parkdean Resorts’ Staycation Market Report 2021, 53% of British people polled said they planned to holiday in the UK in 2022. In addition, between June 2020 and June 2021, online searches for “travel UK” increased by 83%. The search term “UK family holidays” increased by a whopping 235%. It’s not surprising, then, that Landal sees this as an ideal time for a multi-million-pound expansion.
The recent Aspects of Leisure report from Savills discusses the holiday park market and its upward trend over the last year. When compiling market intelligence for the 2021 season, they noticed a significant upward shift in the price being paid for holiday parks, as they thrived in 2021 while other industries continued to struggle. They have benefited from increased demand for both the purchase and rental of holiday units as a result of the pandemic. Above-average occupancy levels have been driving up the prices.
The current conditions have been described as a potent mix for increasing the value of parks. Many operators reported a shift in their customer base as they became more appealing to higher socioeconomic groups than they were previously. As a result, many park owners have improved their existing parks to provide ‘luxury’ accommodations. The improved perception of UK holiday parks is a major factor attracting new investors and creating what Savills describes as “the strongest market conditions the sector has ever encountered.”
online sources: savills.co.uk, parkdeanresorts.co.uk, landal.co.uk
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