More than 5 million Brits are planning a holiday at home for the August Bank Holiday weekend this year according to a VisitEngland survey released today.
VisitEngland’s Bank Holiday Trip Tracker survey shows that 5.1 million Brits are planning an overnight holiday trip in the UK this weekend, with 4.6 million planning a holiday in England.
Brits holidaying at home for the long weekend are expected to generate about £1.25 billion for the UK economy, of which £1.1 billion will be spent in England.
VisitBritain/VisitEngland Director Patricia Yates said:
“Record numbers of Brits have been taking holidays at home this year and with so much going on this summer the August Bank Holiday weekend is another chance to enjoy a great holiday whether on a seaside, countryside or city break.”
The survey also shows that a further 3.6 million people are still undecided about whether to take an overnight holiday trip in England over the Bank Holiday weekend with about 40% saying they are waiting to see what the weather is like and about 20% saying they like to decide at the last minute.
Earlier this year, VisitEngland launched its domestic marketing campaign for 2016 to get more Brits to holiday at home. The campaign inspires people to share images of their own amazing holiday moments in the UK using the hashtag #OMGB, some of which are shared across VisitEngland’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook platforms.
It has been a record-breaking first four months of the year (January to April) for domestic holiday trips in England. From January to April Brits took 11 million holiday trips, 8% more compared to the same period last year, and spent £2.8 billion, 22% up on last year and taking both measures to record levels for this period.
These figures come on the back of a strong 2015 with domestic holiday trips and spending both up 7% on the previous year to 43.7 million holiday trips in England and £10.7 billion respectively.
The number of Brits taking short-breaks (1 – 3 nights) in England was up 10% compared to the previous year with people also taking about 4 million more short-breaks in England than they did ten years ago.
Also in 2015 domestic seaside holiday trips were up 7%, city holidays up 6% and countryside holidays up 12%.
