Monday, 03 March 2008
In an effort to save time and money, more and more British tourists are favouring city breaks and short breaks instead of a fortnights summer holiday according to a survey from Holiday Inn. The hotel chain polled 5000 British people on their 2008 holiday plans and found that around half of those will definitely not be taking a two-week summer holiday this year. The findings also suggest that the average family takes around four short breaks a year, with an average spend of £350 per weekend break.The findings suggest that many families cannot afford to take a holiday which lasts longer than 3 or 4 days and would therefore prefer to spread their holiday out throughout the year. Rising holiday prices during peak school holiday periods were also cited as a reason for an increase in short breaks.
Chris Hale, a spokesman for Holiday Inn said: “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a huge surge in the number of people booking into Holiday Inns for short breaks.”
“Gone are the bad old days when people would save all year for their annual two week summer holiday at the busiest and most expensive period – we’re much too savvy nowadays.”
The popularity of city breaks has grown over the past couple of years, with many travellers finding that low cost flights from easyJet, Ryanair and other budget airlines enable them to save money on the journey, leaving them with more to spend on luxurious accommodation. European city breaks in Prague, Rome, Barcelona and Paris have shown particularly strong growth in recent years.
