Brits travel habits facing uncertainty

Even though Britons kept on travelling during 2016, their travel habits have been changing. The most important factors impacting their choices are related to current or recent events such as the Brexit referendum and the influence of terrorism threats. Notwithstanding, according to ABTA’s “Travel Trend Report 2017”, the number of holidays taken by Brits and the average number of travels per person grew during the past year. As reported by ONS, the UK Office for National Statistics, international travels by UK residents grew by 7% in 2016, and the expenditure for tourism purposes by 10%. The preferred destinations were cities in North America and Europe. As we have already reported, during the summer Brits chose destinations which were perceived to be safe, at the expense of Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. International travels to Portugal grew by 23%, Spain by 20% and Cyprus by 17%. Above all, domestic travels led the growing number of holidays. In fact, they increased to 71% of total travels, up from 64% in 2015.

According to ABTA, uncertainty times will affect 2017’s British travels. However, there is a positive sentiment towards the Travel & Tourism industry. Almost 25% of UK population is planning to take more holidays during 2017. According to ABTA researches, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus will keep their positive performances in 2017, along with recovering destinations such as Italy, who saw a decrease in UK arrivals due to recent earthquakes in the central area of the Country. Moreover, 52% of respondents are willing to take several long haul city breaks during 2017, 44% are planning to go on classical beach holidays, but there is also a growing interest for microadventures, namely short breaks which are spent experiencing destinations in a more active way. Spanish and Portuguese destinations were also included by ABTA in its list of the ones which are expected to be interesting for the British market, including Andalucia and its recent investments in the tourism industry, and the Azores. Other destinations could also be Bermuda, Chile, County Kerry (Ireland), Croatia, Denmark, Kerala (India), Sardinia (Italy), South Africa, USA and Vietnam.

According to ABTA, 2016 was also the year of cruises, especially river ones and 13% of respondents is willing to take more cruises during 2017. ABTA also foresees an increase of package holidays sales along with all-inclusive cruises, as people may prefer to manage their budget and hedge against a volatile GBP.

At Twissen we observed that new destinations are benefiting from the unsteady global scenario. There is room for developing new typologies of travel experiences that may attract part of British tourists. UK is still an interesting market of origin, especially for safe destinations.

Martina Baldo

She graduated in Intercultural Development of Tourism Systems and she has a passion for foreign languages and cultures. Since 2016 she works as administration and tourism project manager at Twissen.