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Outbound sector ‘set to lose £10.4bn’ due to Covid-19

The international travel industry is set to lose out on £10.4 billion as a result of Covid-19, new research claims.

Searches for travel have dropped by a third compared to the pre-lockdown period.

Airline searches have fallen by 16% and searches abroad down 56%.

Searches for hospitality dropped 62.59%, while hotels are down 65% and car rental by 70%.

Twenty per cent of people have cancelled holiday plans altogether, while 35% are delaying booking anything until the pandemic is under control, the study by Parkdean Resorts found.

More than £8 billion in outbound tourism is being lost to domestic holidays this summer, according to the findings.

As many as 19% of would-be holidaymakers cancelled their international travel plans due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This has freed up £8.24 billion to come into the UK tourism market – averaging out at a spend of about £900 per person, according to the analysis by the UK holiday parks firm.

People said they were planning to spend £868.55 on their summer holiday this year compared to £1,211.48 last year.
The total amount spent on domestic holiday tourism in 2019 was £14.5 billion, a figure set to rise to £22.7 billion this year.
The Parkdean data suggests that £48 billion is usually spent each year on summer travel, but with more Britons looking to holiday closer to home, a large chunk of this could be injected back into the UK economy.
The results are based on surveying 2,019 people across the county, analysing Google search data, analysing Parkdean Resorts’ booking data and interviewing experts.
It suggests that more than half of people (60%) want to stay in a hotel or B&B over self-catering options with a staycation budget of almost £860.
Parkdean Resorts chief customer officer Catherine Lynn said: “Obviously the Covid-19 pandemic has really affected the way we holiday in 2020, with hundreds of thousands of would-be holidaymakers being stuck at home. However, these stats give us cause to be optimistic.
“We’re seeing a big upturn in the staycation market at the moment, with even greater numbers appearing for summer 2021 as people look to make up for lost time.
“We’ve been doing all we can to ensure sites are safe and clean, and have now reopened our doors and are giving UK holidaymakers a fantastic experience to hopefully help them end this summer on a high.”

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