Mixed domestic tourism picture emerging
Wednesday, 05 Aug, 2009
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The number of holidays taken by UK residents in England in the first four months of 2009 rose by 13%, according to a new report.
This amounts to 1.2 million more holiday trips and more than five million extra nights’ holiday taken than in the same period of 2008, VisitEngland said.
Overall trips, including business and visiting friends and family, from the January to April period remained at a static 27 million.
The holiday sector benefited from people choosing to take their breaks close to home this year although business travel suffered a decline, according to the domestic tourism body.
The total amount spent on overnight travel since January was down by five per cent overall across all types of trips. The holiday sector in England bucked the trend, with an increase of four per cent.
The report, released on a monthly basis by VisitEngland, shows that overall trips taken throughout England in April rose by 34%, though the Easter break falling in April rather than March in 2009 was a “significant factor”.
Business travel over the four month period was down by 11% as companies continue to look for ways to save money in a difficult economic climate.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that outbound travel was down 18 % in the same four months.
But evidence from travel agents suggests that poor UK weather now forecast for the summer is prompting more people to opt for last minute breaks abroad (see previous TravelMole stories).
VisitEngland chief executive James Berresford described the United Kingdom Tourism Survey results for the period up to April as being “encouraging”.
He admitted: “Time will tell if the trend for holidaying at home continues throughout the summer, but these early indications that people are rediscovering holidays in England is welcome news to the leisure tourism sector.”
Berresford added: “We know that businesses are still having a tough time and business travel is still a big concern which we will continue to monitor – however it seems for now that leisure travel is helping to keep the numbers at the same level as last year, which is a certainly encouraging given the differences in the economic climate in the two comparative years.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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