The common thought is that this summer people are staying at home and, if last week’s weather was anything to go by, with reason. But another week, different weather and you bet some tabloid journalist is already dreaming up a story that says summer is over.
So from Travel Navigator, the new monthly survey from Arkenford*, we learn that out of top 20 destinations people booked in the last month, 13 were in the UK. Staycations seem to be that popular. Whether they be seaside B&B; stays, citybreaks, caravanning or camping, we seem to be lapping them up this year. Half were booked through travel agents so the choice between direct booking and using an agent is roughly the same. Could this be because many travel agents don’t book UK holidays? Do we feel more comfortable arranging it ourselves because the destination is in our own country?
The other interesting feature of this survey is that nearly three quarters of us are planning to cut down on the amount that we will spend. What makes this so interesting is that the result is so up-to-date. Being only up to a month old it does tend to confirm what many people think. People are being more cautious even though there may be green shoots about. It comes down to confidence and people don’t have that positive feeling yet. Maybe next month’s will reveal that confidence is returning so each month we will look at their survey findings.

* Arkenford. In fairness I should state that we work with Arkenford to understand why people choose they holidays/travel they do.