Are Britons bored of staying at home and mopping up the garden? Or do bargain prices and swine flu fears mean the great 2009 staycation’s alive and well? Ask tour operators about the late summer market, and you get vastly differing interpretations:
KIRKER HOLIDAYS
Ted Wake, Director of Sales & Marketing, comments: “Holiday booking patterns over the last month offer a real indication that clients are fed up with the weather, and that the last thing on their mind is the prospect of staying at home to mop up the garden. In particular, breaks to Italy are back up to the record levels achieved last year – the main reason being that value for money this year is better than ever. A great number of people have woken up to the fact that, if they have a special occasion to celebrate this year, they should take the decision to book a holiday abroad, and are more definite than ever it will be a wonderful experience that they truly deserve.” (www.kirkerholidays.com) NB: Bookings made with Kirker Holidays during July for overseas departures this month are currently £100K ahead of budget. Bookings made with Kirker for overseas departures in August are already at last year’s levels.
EXPLORE WORLDWIDE
Ashley Toft, Managing Director, says: “The last two weeks’ trading have been the strongest for us since January, even outperforming the same weeks last year, suggesting that people have indeed decided the fabled British barbecue summer is another Met Office myth. Notably, our October half-term family tours are all but full – and we’re looking at extra departures for that period. These are perhaps families that missed the summer holiday period, banking on balminess, and are now determining to take a later dash for some sun. The apparent death of the staycation certainly pleases us in this sense!
“All that being said, we cant quite hear staycations’ death knell just yet. Introduced for the first time this year, our devoted UK breaks programme has almost completely sold out, including hastily-provided extra departures. Then again, these are staycations with an Explore twist – cycling in the Cotswolds, climbing Ben Nevis, walking in the Outer Hebrides – and perhaps they appeal to a sub-species of staycationers who refuse to be dissuaded by a typically inclement early summer?” (www.explore.co.uk)
SUNVIL HOLIDAYS Noel Josephides, Managing Director, says: “Sunvil has seen a healthy rise in demand for late bookings to Greece in the past two weeks. Staying in the UK is all very well, but if the Britsh summer lives up to its generally wet expectations, people start to book late deals to the Med where the sunshine is more or less guaranteed. Our last minute late bookings to Greece are currently selling better than last year for this reason.” (www.sunvil.co.uk)
CLASSIC COTTAGES Simon Tregoning, Managing Director, comments: “We are finding people are booking very last minute holidays this summer, within the next couple of weeks, or dates within the next four to six weeks, which indicates that Britons are still keen on ‘staycationing’ this year. Last week, for instance, bookings were up 31% on the same week last year and the recent poor weather does not seem to be putting people off staying in the UK. Value for money is a key concern and our booking office has also received comments that customers are happy to avoid the risk of picking up swine flu in airports, planes and hotels.” (www.classic.co.uk)
WILDERNESS SCOTLAND & WILDERNESS JOURNEYS
Stevie Christie, Director, says: “While bookings for Scotland at the start of the year were very strong, up to 30% above 2008 figures, they are now more in line with what we had expected. However, at this stage in the summer we have limited late availability and are still receiving plenty of enquiries for Scottish breaks so staycations are still in people’s minds.
He adds: “Having said this, we have noticed a definite increase in bookings for our overseas trips with Wilderness Journeys in the past three months. In particular, we’ve seen a surge in bookings in the last month for European summer breaks such as sea kayaking in Sardinia and mountain biking in Spain, and to destinations outside the Eurozone including Malawi and Kenya. With a barbecue summer failing to appear so far, people may be deciding they need a fix of sunny weather after all. Overall, overseas bookings are on course to be 20% above our target this year, and significantly better than our forecasts in March and April.” (www.wildernessscotland.com / www.wildernessjourneys.com)
AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators)
Derek Moore, Chairman, says: “It’s fair to say that the British summer has been our best friend once again this year. Back in June, bookings were sluggish such was the fantastic weather in the UK, whereas now our members are inundated with calls from desperate holidaymakers who can’t face any more rain. In saying this, we have a number of domestic tour operators and they are also selling well, the early warm summer encouraged people to book in the UK for their August holidays so it’s generally been a win-win situation.” www.aito.com
I spent last weekend at Farm Festival, a small gathering held in a picturesque, cider-loving Somerset backwater, a couple of valleys over from Glastonbury’s Worthy Farm. In this modern English world of seemingly infinite annual festival options, from the mighty to the mini, Farm Festival is decidedly located at the humbler end of the spectrum: what it lacks in big names, it makes up for in frugality - the whole thing cost a piffling £28.50, including the festival, two days’ camping and reservations fees. By comparison, Glasto was £175 this year, WOMAD cost £122 and Lovebox in Victoria Park, a two-day affair without camping, retailed at £75 for both days - all of those prices still shorn of booking charges, too.
In its fourth year and with proceeds going directly to an excellent charity (Practical Action, which provides pioneering technologies to needy souls in the world’s poorer countries), Farm Festival is also cosy, friendly and, praise be, easy. There’s no long, rucksacked slug from car to campsite, there are no huge crowds to inch through in order to get vaguely close to a live act, there are decent sanitary facilities and there’s fine, inxpensive tuck, including the local speciality of hog roast: a man-sized fistful of spit-roasted pork crammed into a bun. Perhaps that’s why, as well as youngsters, 20-somethings like us and older folk, plenty of families were in attendance. Certainly all seemed safe enough. I heard no reports of robberies, and, barring one scuffle and a Devon-hating band, witnessed no animosity whatsoever. Happy times indeed.
Safety and simplicity earn good marks, but easily Farm Festival’s chief virtue is its quirkiness. Everywhere I looked, something creative and eccentric was taking place. There was a Mad Hatters tent, themed to Alice in Wonderland, and offering pom-pom making, egg-and-spoon races, karaoke and a fun quiz at various times during the day. There was a small crazy golf course to which I tragically did not bring my A-game. There was a skittles lane and a giant human-shaped structure constructed from lilos. There was a stall where you could design bags, and another offering ‘hangover-cure’ massages. And, best of all, there was a hat competition spread across the two days, leading to some hilarious, and breathtakingly imaginative headwear. I saw crocodiles drinking cider, a legion of lampshades (see picture below) moshing to reggae, loaves of bread putting in for a par-four, addled astronauts and the occasional passing brigadeer, sheikh, Eiffel Tower and Navy captain. Each and every one of these drew the same response: intake of breath, then wonderment and finally a broad, delighted smile. Dancing to a banjo-based cover of Boney M’s Ra Ra Rasputin in the company of pirates, builders, wizards and huge bananas ranks as close to paradise as I’ve been in many a year. All this is consciously similar to the Bestival festival’s mentality - but on a much smaller, more intimate level.
You’re probably wondering what kind of music Farm Festival provided? The answer: a real range. Indeed, the event’s rather an audio jamboree, as sonically diverse as it is sartorially. I heard dub, dance, folk, anti-folk and reggae; rap, blues, bop and electro pop; and more or less everything else in between. The best-represented genres were perhaps rock and ska, but in truth the soundscape was as muddied as the walks between stages, and the boundaries as blurred as my eyesight after each night’s trip to cider-land and (painfully) back. (We’re talking real Somerset cider here, too, not that mamby-pamby Magners stuff served with half an ice sculpture to Clapham softies.)
Looking at the Farm Festival line-up in advance, I’d heard of a total three acts: and that from a geeky loon who spends too many hours in darkness reading blogs, and attending sparse concerts in grubby London corners. Many of my fellow attendees didn’t recognise a single name on the line-up. All of which was no surprise, given the festival’s tiny cost and tinier size. But it was also no problem - for being introduced to a bumper load of new music is ever a good, indeed a great, thing. Well, mostly great - some of the performances on Farm Festival’s shoebox of a main stage were laughably woeful, with out-of-tune singers and ill-chosen chords. One band was so noisy and odious that I felt like I was watching a Boris Karloff hammer horror metres from a triggered car alarm. Other acts had scarcely more quality, but crucially brought real humour and warmth to proceedings, accepting their limitations with roguish charm, and delivering ribald, uproarious anthems to wet eyes and wetter armpits. I particularly enjoyed ‘Jesus is a Gay’, although I sadly didn’t catch the offending band’s name.
I definitely will, and plan to, return to Farm Festival. The clash with the Secret Garden Party festival is unfortunate, but at a fifth of the cost, a fraction of the effort and scarcely any less fun, I know to which bash I’ll be tempted towards next year.
A legion of lampshades - typically comic head-wear at Farm Festival
Esquire’s round-up of 10 beaches best-avoided begins with Goa, where “sacred cows roam freely on the sand, taking cover under tourists’ umbrellas”. This picture proves as much, apparently showing a cows taking a break during a game of beach volleyball.
As Esquire admits, sat at your computer desk and free of the noxious downside, there’s something very cute and quaint about this scene. But Goa’s not the only place where you can share the shore with unlikely wildlife - we’ve been inspired to list five more…
Tassi Savannah, Gabon Part of Loango NP, Tassi Savannah borders the Atlantic and is renowned in National Geographic circles for its unusual beachcombers: during the rainy season (Oct-Apr), elephant, buffalo and even hippopotamus are often seen splashing in the shallows, or swimming in the surf. Families of gorillas forage in the trees along the beach, as well – an exotic variation on pickpockets at Positano, if you like. (Photo below - credit Michael Nichols, for National Geographic)
Bahamas In one of its best-ever Page 3 stories, free UK morning newspaper Metro recently splashed about paddling piglets in the Bahamas. On the curiously-named Big Major Spot Island in the Bahamas, a family of boars and piglets have swapped sty for blue sky, and decamped to a tropical paradise beach. The swines. Now feral, the gang can regularly be seen trotting along the beach, or oinking with delight and surging into the swell to bestow friendly greetings on newly-arrived catamarans, and cutely beg for a little lunch. Give it a year, and they’ll probably be dishing out parasols and wearing tight red shorts.
Isle of Mull, Scotland
For idyllic, deserted white sand beaches and crystal clear (albeit cold!) waters, there are few places more idyllic than the Isle of Mull in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides. Mull’s wonderful-looking Highland Cattle seem to think so too, grazing as close to the water’s edge as it’s possible to get – seemingly ferocious beasties whose horned heads and shaggy ‘Sesame Street’ fringes belie an altogether more approachable, adventurous animal!
Turtle Beach, Barbados
There are many areas in Barbados where you can swim among turtles (green, hawksbill and leatherbacks), but at Turtle Beach on the west coast, there are two friendly turtles that visit every day directly in front of the famous Lone Star Restaurant (picture below)! To meet the duo, the optimum time is nesting season, between May and October. In fact, during this period large numbers (100-150 at a time) of turtles instinctively hatch in tandem, and then make their way down to the sea in a mass procession – an incredible sight.
Turtle Beach, St Kitts
Across the Caribbean, another Turtle Beach was once famed for its wildlife mayhem. In the case of Turtle Beach on St Kitts, it was the sight of monkeys pinching punters’ beer… and then getting decidedly wobbly. The video below captures the comedy of an addled ape perfectly – we can all recognise that look of blurry confusion and disorientation. Sadly this particular animal playground has been bought by a private company, and the muddled monkeys banished from its shores.
The triumphant climax of On Thin Ice on Sunday (BBC 2, 9pm) cemented Ben Fogle as the nation’s favourite adventurer as he gallantly reached the South Pole after an epic month-long struggle. Throughout the compelling five-episode documentary, audiences witnessed Fogle at his most vulnerable as exhaustion and frostbite set in, but unlike his teammates Gold medal rower James Cracknell and doctor Ed Coates, even in the face of extreme pain and fear, Fogle was never less than charming, kind and supportive.
If Fogle were to choose the North Pole as his next challenge, he would be one of a handful of people that have visited both Poles – another of whom is the legendary Michael Palin.
After studying History at Oxford, Palin starred in a number of smallish TV shows until Monty Python provided his break-through. It was a single episode in BBC programme Great Railway Journeys of the World in 1980 which changed his direction forever and has since lead to Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure and Sahara.
Are the BBC grooming Fogle to fill Palin’s boots?
At 66, he is certainly getting on and Fogle’s natural and eloquent delivery is reminiscent of Shrewsbury-educated Palin. Both presenters are immediately trustworthy, enough to make you follow them to the ends of the earth (quite literally) as they invade your sitting room on a Sunday night. With the Sahara conquered in The Sand Marathon, Africa explored in Wild in Africa, the Atlantic tamed in Through Hell and High Water, USA visited in Wild on the West Coast and now a victorious expedition to the South Pole it looks like Fogle’s destiny is inevitable.
Mind you, he does like animals…perhaps David Attenborough should also watch his back? Polly Tracey
Oh irony of ironies! The Government, reports The Daily Telegraph, has produced a 20-page guide to Twitter for civil servants. What a shame that the people who produced it couldn’t explain the social networking service more succinctly, since Twitter is the ultimate tool for encouraging brevity of communication: it has a 140-character limit per message… Sue Ockwell
It may be the middle of July, but winter sports enthusiasts are already looking ahead to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next February. Making headlines recently has been Women’s Ski Jumping USA, which filed a lawsuit in May 2008 against the organising committee’s decision only to include men’s ski jumping at the Games. Despite the Canadian Supreme Court’s agreement that this was discriminatory and “distasteful”, the court ruled against WSJUSA last week after concluding that the International Olympic Committee was at fault, not the Vancouver organising committee.
The Games will also see ski cross make its Olympic debut – a new and high-octane freestyle skiing event with roots in motocross and downhill skiing. Team GB has suffered a blow as British number ones Angus Morison and Emily Sarsfield have both sustained major injuries this season, but there is strength in depth and the likes of Craig Robinson and Sarah Sauvey will have to step up.
There are also serious medal contenders for Britain in bob skeleton, snowboard cross, curling and alpine skiing (even if slalom skier Alain Baxter, who was stripped of his bronze medal in 2002 after failing a drugs test, is now looking to win a medal in 2012 on a bike!).
A few of us have little girls under the age of three waiting for us at home every evening, so it’s no surprise to read that we’re suckers for cutesy videos of toddlers that make us laugh. It probably takes our mind off the reality of having young kids - food flying in all directions at dinnertime, disastrous potty training, clothes regularly covered in puke, the screaming in public places…you get the idea!
We couldn’t resist this video by Evian, it even reminded us of some of the antics our little angels get up to…. and before you ask, no, Evian isn’t a client! Ian Bradley
My Greek Cypriot father-in-law jokes about the British obsession with the weather – but how can we be anything but obsessed with it at present?
I ventured out this morning (in the last week of July) in moderately summery attire only to find it was cold enough to require a jumper and wet enough to merit wellies and woolly socks. So much for the “BBQ Summer” that the Met Office was confidently predicting a few months back. We haven’t had a BBQ in the garden for at least two and possibly three summers now, and have enjoyed a meal outside only a couple of times so far this year…
It means British holiday destinations have to be good at handling visitors no matter what the weather – indoor pools become more important, cosy log fires and good central heating are essential (ie not those systems that are switched on only come October!) and spa treatments, good books and comfortable seating areas (blankets optional) take on added importance. Comfort food also moves up the priority list – salads don’t hit the spot at all if you are feeling cold and damp, whereas shepherd’s pie will keep guests at the table happily quaffing wine and chatting for a long time!
It was unseasonably damp – torrential rain and stupendous thunderstorms – in Cyprus in late April; great for sorting out the water shortage and topping up the reservoirs, but not so good for visitors seeking sunshine. Villas there are built for hot weather conditions, so we were fortunate that ours had an air con system that converted to hot air convection; it was a real life-saver, as I had packed cool clothing and wasn’t prepared at all. I guess global warming is affecting weather patterns everywhere and we should pack for all weathers no matter where we go. At least we Brits are used to that! Sue Ockwell.
It’s the morning of Wednesday 22nd July 2009 and a very relieved Explore tour leader has just reported in that her group in China was ferried to the right place at the right time to see the incredible solar eclipse – the longest for a century.
Across the densely populated Asian path of this celestial event, there must have been hundreds of millions of pairs of eyes, shielded by pieces of card or dark plastic or funky branded cardboard sunglasses witnessing an event that in various parts of the world is seen as a good omen, a bad omen, potentially harmful to unborn babies, proof of God’s existence or simply a wonderful life-affirming, beautiful and once-in-a-lifetime event.
Once in a lifetime, except of course that there’s another one coming along next year.
It’s going to be a little harder to see the 2010 eclipse, as it races at 1500 miles an hour along a narrow corridor above mostly endless Pacific Ocean; but thankfully, Easter Island, that most enigmatic and tragic of island communities, lies directly in its path, giving a lucky few a truly unique experience. And of course, Explore will be there to see it.
Explore customers watching the eclipse in China
This sort of one-off event provides an adventure operator like Explore with a great opportunity to showcase organisational and logistical skills though. To set up any tour is a highly complex business, involving people in marketing, operations, purchasing, product, tour leader logistics, ground agents, responsible tourism and customer relations departments, with personnel both in the UK and overseas. But to produce a tour whose whole focus is a 6 minute event, totally out of anyone’s control (unless you’re in the “proof of God’s existence” camp perhaps), and often in a remote and inaccessible location throws up a whole extra level of challenge and stress for all involved.
Planning for the eclipse in Easter Island started in 2008 and will not be finalised until airline schedules are confirmed in September this year. By the time the tours depart, the time from original idea to aircraft taking off will have been around two years and will be the result of decisions made by around 50 people. Logistically challenging anyway, Easter Island is likely to be a busy wee spot come July next year, with its hotel and camping accommodation at full stretch. There is also expected to be a world shortage of eclipse experts in July 2010 (actually I made that up) but as having a knowledgeable commentator on hand is de-rigueur at these events, booking the few good ones had to be completed several months ago too.
So, four tours will depart in July next year, carrying a maximum of 24 people each. They will travel around 30,000km, spend upwards of £5000 each, camp in reasonably basic conditions for 3 nights and stare at the sun for a scant few minutes - but all of them will think it worth it for an utterly unique and exclusive experience. With thanks to Explore & International Life
Retiring English cricketing behemoth Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff will be fondly remembered for four things: slaying Australian bowlers and batsmen, staggering sportsmanship, exceptional levels of inebriation, and an accident while stoically steering that most manly of nautical vessels: the pedalo. With the release of an advert (watch below) fondly playing on his infamous watery wobble, and the sale of the offending vehicle for charity on ebay (auction closes on 26-July at 1300 BST), the pedalo’s public profile is set to rise again. Especially for those aquatic adventurers determined to follow brave Freddie into the watery unknown, and in honour of his match-winning effort at Lords, we’ve collated some holidays ripe for your own ‘Fredalo’ incident:
HYDE PARK, LONDON The undisputed home of pedaloing, and an idyll of decorum and delicacy ill-suited to stupefied strike-bowling sailors. Such a posh pond demands dapper digs, and Hyde Park Garden Mews is certainly that: part of The Wowhouse Company’s collection, it’s a luxurious London townhouse located in a quiet cul-de-sac close to Lancaster Gate (surely Freddie’s favourite tube station?). With plasma TV screens in each bedroom for Sky Sports fans, plus a jacuzzi, iPod stereo system, Playstation and board games, this is a stylish alternative to humdrum hotel accommodation in London.
EAST WHEAL ROSE, CORNWALL Forget pasties – it’s Cornish pedalos you want. A great place to find them is the idyllic boating lake at East Wheal Rose – and that’s reached via a short, scenic hop on the Lappa Valley Steam Railway from Newquay. It’s been going since 1849 when it was first opened as a mineral line from Newquay to East Wheal Rose, and has one of the oldest railway trackbeds in Cornwall. Stay nearby with a large group of family, friends or cricket team-mates at historic Melancoose Mill (sleeps 12), a Classic Cottages property. Set in a peaceful valley close to Watergate Bay and three miles from Newquay, it offers a maze of rooms, terraced gardens and a pedalo-prohibited pond.
MONACO
Even if the budget doesn’t quite stretch to a super-yacht while holidaying in Monaco, guests can still enjoy time on the Mediterranean water. Ski Vol, stationed on the public Larvotto Beach and at Le Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel, offers pedalos as well as jet skiing, flyfish-rides, banana boat-rides, doughnut-rides, water skiing, wake boarding, parasailing and canoeing with prices starting at €15 pp (approx £13). One man likely to look disdainfully at paltry pedaloers while whooshing by is Kyran Bracken: the World Cup-winning rugby brusier was recently spotted jet-skiing in the Principality. The Visit Monaco website has more information.
UMBRIA, ITALY Umbria’s Lake Trasimeno is the perfect place for family pedalo fun. It’s reportedly Italy’s cleanest body of water, and its shallow depth means gentle, safe waters. Away from aquatic cycling, a regular ferry connects to two beachy islands, Maggiore and Polveses, while waterside restaurants serve up fresh fish straight from the lake. Things weren’t always this idyllic: during a mighty Roman war, Trasimeno’s water once turned red with the blood of massacred soldiers. Real Holidays offers self-catering at family apartments at the San Feliciano Residence, its shared wood-burning outdoor oven and large pool positioned to face the lake’s epic sunsets.
PELEPONNESE, GREECE The more cultured water-cyclist will head to Greece for some Peloponnese pedalo action. Nestled around the curve of a sheltered bay, the village of Tolon boasts a long, sandy beach and a plethora of watersports, including pedalos for hire. Pummel those pedals, avoid capsizing like a loaded Lancastrian, and it won’t be long before you reach two pretty islets just across the bay. A tempting array of cafés and small restaurants line the beach at Tolon, while some of Greece’s top ancient sites – Epidavros theatre, Mycenae and Olympia – all offer un-athletic alternatives for days out. Sunvil Holidays* offers self-catering at the beachfront Stella Apartments.
ST. LUCIA Those Freddie-followers undertaking devout pedalo pilgrimages have but one option: to head to the very place where Flintoff became flotsam. St Lucia, in other words: a picture-perfect Caribbean island boasting volcanic sulphur springs, banana plantations and palm-fringed beaches. Explore* has a 14-day group tour that combines St Lucia with two other islands – the Creole-accented Martinique, and the wildlife haven of Dominica, where further water-based fun arrives in the form of a canoeing excursion.
*This company is an AITO member. AITO is the Association of Independent Tour Operators: 140 independent and specialist travel companies providing an unrivalled collection of holiday ideas that cover every corner of the world. Consumers booking with AITO can be assured of 100% financial security, high-quality holidays and excellent personal service.
Signup to our RSS
Analysis of the late-summer travel market
Friday, July 31st, 2009Are Britons bored of staying at home and mopping up the garden? Or do bargain prices and swine flu fears mean the great 2009 staycation’s alive and well? Ask tour operators about the late summer market, and you get vastly differing interpretations:
KIRKER HOLIDAYS
Ted Wake, Director of Sales & Marketing, comments: “Holiday booking patterns over the last month offer a real indication that clients are fed up with the weather, and that the last thing on their mind is the prospect of staying at home to mop up the garden. In particular, breaks to Italy are back up to the record levels achieved last year – the main reason being that value for money this year is better than ever. A great number of people have woken up to the fact that, if they have a special occasion to celebrate this year, they should take the decision to book a holiday abroad, and are more definite than ever it will be a wonderful experience that they truly deserve.” (www.kirkerholidays.com)
NB: Bookings made with Kirker Holidays during July for overseas departures this month are currently £100K ahead of budget. Bookings made with Kirker for overseas departures in August are already at last year’s levels.
EXPLORE WORLDWIDE
Ashley Toft, Managing Director, says: “The last two weeks’ trading have been the strongest for us since January, even outperforming the same weeks last year, suggesting that people have indeed decided the fabled British barbecue summer is another Met Office myth. Notably, our October half-term family tours are all but full – and we’re looking at extra departures for that period. These are perhaps families that missed the summer holiday period, banking on balminess, and are now determining to take a later dash for some sun. The apparent death of the staycation certainly pleases us in this sense!
“All that being said, we cant quite hear staycations’ death knell just yet. Introduced for the first time this year, our devoted UK breaks programme has almost completely sold out, including hastily-provided extra departures. Then again, these are staycations with an Explore twist – cycling in the Cotswolds, climbing Ben Nevis, walking in the Outer Hebrides – and perhaps they appeal to a sub-species of staycationers who refuse to be dissuaded by a typically inclement early summer?” (www.explore.co.uk)
SUNVIL HOLIDAYS
Noel Josephides, Managing Director, says: “Sunvil has seen a healthy rise in demand for late bookings to Greece in the past two weeks. Staying in the UK is all very well, but if the Britsh summer lives up to its generally wet expectations, people start to book late deals to the Med where the sunshine is more or less guaranteed. Our last minute late bookings to Greece are currently selling better than last year for this reason.” (www.sunvil.co.uk)
CLASSIC COTTAGES
Simon Tregoning, Managing Director, comments: “We are finding people are booking very last minute holidays this summer, within the next couple of weeks, or dates within the next four to six weeks, which indicates that Britons are still keen on ‘staycationing’ this year. Last week, for instance, bookings were up 31% on the same week last year and the recent poor weather does not seem to be putting people off staying in the UK. Value for money is a key concern and our booking office has also received comments that customers are happy to avoid the risk of picking up swine flu in airports, planes and hotels.” (www.classic.co.uk)
WILDERNESS SCOTLAND & WILDERNESS JOURNEYS
Stevie Christie, Director, says: “While bookings for Scotland at the start of the year were very strong, up to 30% above 2008 figures, they are now more in line with what we had expected. However, at this stage in the summer we have limited late availability and are still receiving plenty of enquiries for Scottish breaks so staycations are still in people’s minds.
He adds: “Having said this, we have noticed a definite increase in bookings for our overseas trips with Wilderness Journeys in the past three months. In particular, we’ve seen a surge in bookings in the last month for European summer breaks such as sea kayaking in Sardinia and mountain biking in Spain, and to destinations outside the Eurozone including Malawi and Kenya. With a barbecue summer failing to appear so far, people may be deciding they need a fix of sunny weather after all. Overall, overseas bookings are on course to be 20% above our target this year, and significantly better than our forecasts in March and April.” (www.wildernessscotland.com / www.wildernessjourneys.com)
AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators)
Derek Moore, Chairman, says: “It’s fair to say that the British summer has been our best friend once again this year. Back in June, bookings were sluggish such was the fantastic weather in the UK, whereas now our members are inundated with calls from desperate holidaymakers who can’t face any more rain. In saying this, we have a number of domestic tour operators and they are also selling well, the early warm summer encouraged people to book in the UK for their August holidays so it’s generally been a win-win situation.”
www.aito.com
Tags: "classic cottages", "kirker holidays", "late summer", "tour operators", "wilderness journeys", "wilderness scotland", 2009, AITO, bookings, Explore, holidays, kirker, market, staycation, Sunvil, tourism, travel, “Explore worldwide”
Posted in Client news, News & comments No Comments »