More Brits want to book holidays now
The latest Intent to Travel Index by hotel booking platform hoo has found that the number of UK holidaymakers intending to book a foreign holiday is at its highest since the start of the year
hoo’s index found that 25 per cent of UK travellers plan to head away on a foreign holiday within the next six to 12 months, up from a low of just 10 per cent in July, and the highest level since hoo began monitoring this intent to travel at the start of the year. Twenty per cent remain undecided, while just 55 per cent now have no plans to book a holiday anytime soon – down from 90 per cent in July.
The removal of quarantine restrictions for double vaccinated holidaymakers (46 per cent) has been the biggest influence in this travel intent revival, although more recent changes such as the removal of pre-departure tests when returning from ‘Green’ destinations (17 per cent) and the simplification of the traffic light system to a single ‘Red’ list (16 per cent) have also helped boost the sector.
Changes to Covid testing boost recovery
The removal of a pre-holiday test to some countries (11 per cent) and the change from a day two PCR test to a lateral flow if double vaccinated (10 per cent) have had less of an impact. With growing stability across the industry, hoo’s analysis also shows that holidaymakers are already acting on this intent to travel as hotel booking volumes now sit 70 per cent higher than they did prior to the pandemic.
Adrian Murdock, hoo Co-founder, commented: “The tourism and hospitality trades have taken a big hit during the pandemic and while we’re certainly not out of the woods yet, there are some very promising signs that the industry is returning to a level not seen since before the Covid-19 outbreak.”