Heatwaves and cost of living ‘spark surge in holidays outside summer’
A poll commissioned by travel trade organisation Abta indicated that May and June will be the most popular months for overseas breaks next year.
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Your support makes all the difference.Cost-of-living pressure and summer heatwaves are leading many people to book holidays outside the traditional peak summer period, a new survey suggests.
A poll of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by travel trade organisation Abta indicated that May and June will be the most popular months for overseas breaks next year.
The proportion of respondents who said they would travel in each of the months was 21%.
That was just ahead of October (19%) and the traditional peak school holiday months of July and August (both 17%), when trips are generally more expensive.
Abta said the “growing trend for all-year-round travel” could be linked to “the search for value for money”.
Many holiday companies have extended their summer seasons in destinations such as Turkey and Greece and increased capacity in the so-called “shoulder season”, the organisation said.
Some 72% of people questioned said the cost of living will affect their travel plans.
The season is flattening out
The poll suggested that in the 12 months to August, 52% of people went on holiday abroad and took an average of 1.4 foreign holidays each, which is in line with pre-pandemic levels.
Almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents said they plan to take a trip overseas in the following 12 months.
Speaking at Abta’s annual convention in Bodrum, Turkey, chief executive Mark Tanzer told the PA news agency that holidaymakers are “very conscious of value” and more are choosing to book for earlier or later in the year if they have “the flexibility to travel when they want”, such as those without children in school.
He went on: “I think the weather is also starting to play a role in this.
“I think people are thinking ‘I don’t want to be in a hot area at the peak of summer’.
“The destinations are responding to that. They realise there is a market in the shoulder seasons and they’re making sure they’re open. The flights are coming in.
“It’s a general phenomenon that the season is flattening out the peak, and I think that will continue.”
The survey was conducted by research company The Nursery in the last two weeks of August.
It was a representative sample weighted to reflect the UK population.
In August, Sebastian Ebel, chief executive of travel company Tui, predicted that more holidaymakers will opt for cooler destinations and times of the year when the temperature is not at its highest.
He said the company will put more focus on locations such as the Nordics, Belgium and the Netherlands.
He was speaking after thousands of UK holidaymakers were on the Greek island of Rhodes when parts of it were devastated by wildfires in July.