Holiday accommodation in the South West tourist hot spots are set for a bumper summer. According to figures from analytics firm STR, some 55 per cent of hotel rooms in Devon and Cornwall have been booked up for the rest of June, July and August, an increase from 52 per cent last year.
Holiday operator Bourne Leisure said it expects to host three million people this year across its 39 Haven caravan parks, up 20 per cent from 2.5million last year.
Sykes Holiday Cottages has a record 21,000-holiday lets available this summer after increasing its total by 15 per cent in expectation of further demand.
The staycation trend that started during the pandemic travel restrictions is still going strong, as evidenced by the increased demand for domestic travel. However, even though outbound flight bookings for foreign travel are also on the rise, with a 9% increase from last year, the popularity of staycations remains high.
Malcolm Bell, chair of Visit Cornwall, told the Financial Times: “For a lot of people, it’s not a holiday unless they are at the airport. But more and more people, especially families, are at least entertaining the idea of a staycation.”
Paul Flaum, Bourne Leisure boss, said: “Guests don’t just want value for money, they want certainty and to make sure every penny spent is worth it.”
“One trend that the pandemic has cemented is that people have realised how important it is to get away, and therefore they are doing everything that they can to protect their holiday, but also to have more holidays,”
Graham Donoghue, Sykes Cottages boss, told the FT: “When the weather is good, domestic travel does well. We’re pretty simple us Brits: when it’s sunny, we look out the window and think ‘Aha, it’s time to book a holiday'”.
A survey of British tourists by Visit Britain found nearly 40 per cent are more likely to go on a holiday in the UK in the next six months than the previous year.
