Green list fails to boost holidaymaker appetites as staycations remain the favourite this summer

Research by hotel booking platform, Hoo, has revealed that the long awaited travel green list has done little to boost holidaymaker sentiment with 86% of us still planning to stay close to home this summer.

At the start of the year (Jan 2021) when travel uncertainty for 2021 was at its highest, Hoo’s holiday sentiment tracker found that 88% of us had no plans to travel abroad this year.

In March, amidst talk of the travel ban lifting, Hoo found that 65% of people had no plans to go abroad. Again, 14% did, while 21% were sitting on the fence waiting to see if restrictions would actually ease.

However, now that restrictions have been lifted, it seems as though the small number of green list destinations has done little to tempt the 21% who were undecided back in March.

When asked if a holiday was on the cards now that the international travel ban had been lifted, 86% of those surveyed stated they would be staying put in the UK, with just 14% having plans to head abroad.

The opportunity for quarantine-free travel is understandably an influential factor for those choosing to travel. Just 13% stated that they would plan a holiday regardless of which colour list the destination was on, while 11% would avoid red list destinations. However, three quarters of holidaymakers plan to avoid both amber and red list destinations this summer.

The good news, for the UK tourism industry at least, is that staycations remain very much on the cards. Hoo’s research found that 66% of us plan to take a staycation in the UK this summer, regardless of whether we also plan to head abroad or not.

Hoo Co-founder, Adrian Murdock, commented:

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that despite efforts to boost international travel this year, much of the UK remains content to stay put and enjoy another summer of staycations. This is hardly surprising given the uncertainty of last year that saw many caught out by changing travel restrictions while they were actually on holiday abroad.

We may well see this intent to travel increase should more destinations be reclassified to green, as currently, the options are pretty limited.

Of course, while the weather may be a tad unpredictable, the UK is home to some outstanding coastal towns, national parks and more. So you could certainly do a lot worse than choosing a staycation again this summer.”

Survey of 1,148 UK population carried out by Hoo (13th May 2021).