The bargain hunt turns Brits into last-minute travellers
Recession fears has hoteliers holding their breath for bookings
Matthew Vella
New figures from the UK statistics office have revealed Portugal to be the hardest hit by the sharp fall in travel abroad by Britons, while Malta has managed to keep its head above water in the recession.
The figures may offer little respite to hoteliers who up until last week were still waiting to see occupancy levels rise for August.
The chief executive of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said August was looking bleak with 50% of bookings still to be taken. But hoteliers were banking on a sudden reversal of fortunes thanks to a last-minute booking trend.
“In spite of the flights and seat capacity being available, and the marketing being done by the MTA, figures for August look bleak and hoteliers are concerned,” George Schembri said.
But similar fears in June were quashed when last-minute bookings turned the situation around. “July turned out to be good. It’s a very last-minute booking situation at the moment,” Schembri said.
UK statistics now show some 43% fewer Britons took a break to Portugal in the first three months of the year – the ‘Maddy’ factor, some tabloids suggested – as Britons took 2.2 million fewer trips to Europe – a drop of 20%.
According to the British statistics office, only five of the 31 countries it lists saw an increase from British travellers – Denmark, Romania, Turkey, Malta, Slovakia.
Spain and Italy also saw above-average falls of more than 25% in the first quarter, while trips to the Czech Republic, mostly Prague, fell by more than half.
Observers of the ‘last-minute’ trend are clearly seeing it materialising. In June, ABTA, the Travel Association, predicted that 415,000 passengers will go through Heathrow in July alone, with a further 240,000 departing from Gatwick. Stansted, Manchester and Birmingham will accommodate 140,000, 150,000 and 65,000 holidaymakers respectively.
According to ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer, “many of us are choosing to book later than normal and if you haven’t made your mind up yet on where to go and are flexible in your choices there are still some great deals available.”
So the recession appears to be making British holidaymakers more flexible when it comes to booking holidays, leaving it off to the last minute in a bid to get the cheapest deals.
A recent poll by cheap flight site Skyscanner asked ‘What type of traveller are you?’, revealing 28% of voters were ‘Bargain Hunters’ and that they’d ‘fly anywhere if the price was right’.
17% had a destination in mind but were flexible on dates, whilst 15% had fixed travel dates but were open on destinations. Just 16% of the respondents knew exactly when and where they wanted to go at the time of visiting Skyscanner.
The results reflected the increasing trend for British travellers to favour cheap deals over set destinations, especially when it comes to flight price.
Clearly, the way the Brits are travelling has changed, thanks to the recession: instead of booking a long time in advance, they are now booking closer to their departure date.
In the words of Skyscanner director Barry Smith, “The recession has turned us into a nation of bargain hunters and adventurers. Rather than setting our hearts on a single destination and fixed dates, more of us are now happy to take our holidays when and where we can find the best value. Brits have become more flexible and open to new destinations – as long as the price is right.”
Indeed, Skyscanner saw an unprecedented spike in its website user traffic during May 2009, reflecting a surge of late bookings which has led to record visitor numbers. The company said it typically experiences its highest levels of user traffic at the start of the year, with the majority of people booking their summer holidays during January and February.
However, this year user patterns are very different: following the January 2009 rush, Skyscanner experienced a second spike of traffic in March and then another clearly defined spike in May with user traffic 24.5% up on the January spike, which has led to new record numbers of visitors on the Skyscanner site.
“We’ve seen a real difference in booking patterns this year,” said Barry Smith. “Financial uncertainty has made people more cautious about booking a long time in advance. But Scottish schools have already broken up for the summer holidays, and schools in England and Wales will break up in a couple of weeks so now the hunt is on for last minute bargains.”
According to the website, Spain is the most popular summer destination for Brits followed by France, Italy, the USA and Turkey.
Despite initial scares, it appears the swine flu played little havoc with holidaymakers’ plans. A survey by HolidayExtras.com revealed that 41% of respondents were only mildly concerned by the threats posed by the H1N1 virus because they are just as likely to catch it by staying at home.
It is more likely that British holidaymakers’ decisions could be affected by the euro and the exchange rate. Rishi Patel, head of FX trading at FairFX.com, says it is “quite a big jump” for passengers booking flights to the US in particular, with the days of the pound being worth two dollars having gone back to just 1.65 dollars.
Recently, the pound was worth as little as 1.35 dollars.
On the other hand, the pound had risen 8% against the Turkish lira since the start of 2008, while it was down 14% against the euro. This is one of the reasons why Turkey has become such an attractive destination.
Recent figures from M&S Money revealed that the Turkish lira is the third most popular currency behind the euro and US dollar, while sales of the Egyptian pound increased by 20% in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2008.
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