Take This Job and Shove It … I Want to Travel: Just out from Inghams, the UK ski and winter holiday specialist, is a survey telling us that nearly half (48 percent) of the nation’s workers would rather trade their job for a holiday. Inghams ran a nationwide survey to 2,000 people via One Poll to find out the most popular items on Brits’ Bucket Lists, which revealed travel overall was the most desired thing to do. But 22 percent said they don’t have enough holiday allowance to travel.
Naturally, the latter finding caused Louise Newton, group head of marketing at Inghams to lament, “It’s disappointing to hear that a fourth of the UK don’t have a suitable holiday allowance to take a holiday. Should people want to travel this may lead to taking days unpaid which ultimately has an effect on the overall cost of the holiday. However short excursions could be the answer, this allows you to take a short break to travel and hopefully leaves you with a couple of days spare for something else.”
The survey also revealed the following:
—Nearly a quarter of people aged 55 over said they have actually quit their job to take early retirement to travel (19 percent) compared to 6 percent of 18 to 24 year olds who have gone travelling for a year.
—Asked what has been the best thing they have ticked off their bucket- list so far, losing weight was ranked higher than scaling the career ladder.
—Just over a third of men said they have scaled the career ladder compared to 28 percent of women
“Massive” Shift to Long-Haul Now Taking Place in UK Benefits USA: While it might not be indicative of the overall UK traveling population, Club Med says that its booking data indicate that one third of British holidaymakers are making a switch to long-haul travel abroad. The company said that 31 percent of travelers are making the switch from short-haul vacations because of cheaper foreign exchange rates (the British pound has held up well against the euro for the past two years) and European safety concerns. Estelle Giraudeau, Club Med’s managing director, told the UK trade publication TTG that the rate at which travelers were moving to long-haul was “massive.”
Some numbers cited by Club Med include the following:
—At the same point last year, Club Med’s bookings were 20 percent for long-haul and; this year it’s at 30 percent.
—Out of the bookings studied, 47 percent of clients gave recent European events, such as the Brussels bombings in March and the Paris attacks last year, as their strongest driver for staying away from the continent this summer, with
—The strength of sterling against other international currencies was also a major reason for avoiding the Eurozone, with 34 percent citing the value for money that long-haul destinations such as the US, Mauritius and the Dominican Republic could be a key influence.
—Said Giraudeau: “The currency exchange has been so strong for British travelers over the last 12 to 18 months and going long-haul is giving people so much more for their money. Take a destination like the US, a lifestyle there is costing 20% to 30% less than it would in the UK, which is a big draw.”
