New research* from ABTA reveals that city breaks have increased their lead over beach holidays as the most popular type of holiday taken by consumers in the last year. Over half (54%) of the population said they took a city break in the 12 months to August 2015, either in the UK or overseas. The research, part of ABTA’s Holiday Habits Report 2015, shows city breaks were closely followed in popularity by beach holidays with half (50%) of consumers having taken a beach holiday. Both types of holiday have increased in popularity since 2014 when 42% of people took a city break and 38% took a beach holiday.
Table 1.1 – Top ten types of holiday taken in 12 months to July 2015
|
Ranking |
Holiday type |
% |
|
1 |
A city break |
54 |
|
2 |
A beach holiday |
50 |
|
3 |
An all-inclusive holiday |
18 |
|
4 |
Lakes and mountains |
11 |
|
5 |
A cruise |
10 |
|
6 |
Peer to peer |
8 |
|
7 |
An activity or sporting holiday |
8 |
|
8 |
A trip to see a music event |
7 |
|
9 |
A coach holiday |
7 |
|
10 |
A trip to see a major sports event |
5 |
The biggest fans of city and beach breaks
25-34 year olds and 55-64 year olds are the biggest fans of city breaks with six in ten (60%) having taken one in 2015. Additionally, families with school age children appear to enjoy the cultural and learning opportunities city breaks offer, with almost six in ten (59%) taking this type of break.
Families remain the core supporters of the beach holiday, with six in ten of both those with young children (63%) and those with school age children (64%) taking a beach break in 2015.
Peer-to-peer
This is the first year that ABTA has included a question about peer-to-peer bookings through companies such as Airbnb and Homestay. Almost one in ten (8%) respondents said that they had rented a private home/home swap/home stay/couch surf in 2015 and 7% said they intend to do so in 2016. 25-34 year olds are the most likely to book this way with 10% doing so in 2015 and 10% intending to do so again in the next twelve months. 10% of over 65s booked this way in 2015, but interestingly this falls to only 5% who intend to do so in 2016.
Top choices for 2016
Looking ahead to 2016, city breaks and beach holidays are set to go head-to-head once again as top choices, all-inclusives also look to cement a strong position, with one in five people (20%) saying they may take an all-inclusive holiday in 2016. There is good news for the cruise industry with 13% saying they are intending to take a cruise in 2016 up slightly from 10% who actually did so in 2015.
Table 1.2 – Top ten types of holiday consumers are considering taking in 2016
|
Ranking |
Holiday type |
% |
|
1 |
A city break |
47 |
|
2 |
A beach break |
44 |
|
3 |
An all-inclusive holiday |
20 |
|
4 |
A cruise |
13 |
|
5 |
Lakes and mountains |
12 |
|
6 |
An activity or sporting holiday |
8 |
|
7 |
A coach holiday |
8 |
|
8 |
A trip to see a music event |
7 |
|
9 |
Peer to peer |
7 |
|
10 |
A train holiday |
6 |
Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive said: “The popularity of city breaks and beach holidays grew in 2015 and they look set to dominate in 2016. Other popular types of holiday offered by ABTA Members, such as all-inclusive packages and cruises, continued to sell well in 2015 and look set to grow further in 2016. The public’s love of festivals both in the UK and overseas has seen a trip to see a music event enter the top ten for the first time, replacing a trip to a major sporting event from last year’s list.”
13 October 2015
* Consumer research was conducted by Arkenford Ltd (www.arkenford.co.uk) who specialise in tourism and leisure market research. The ABTA Consumer Trends survey generated response from a nationally representative sample of 2003 consumers using an online research methodology and related to holiday booking habits in the 12 months to August 2015. Fieldwork was conducted in July/August 2015.
