The London 2012 Olympic Games will not affect the summer holiday plans of nine out of 10 Britons, research out today shows.
The Olympics combined with as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the European Football Championships will affect just 5% of travel plans.
The results are taken from TravelSupermarket’s Travel Trends Tracker – a survey of 5,000 people – out today.
Of those who are affected by the Olympics, 40% said that they would stay at home to make sure they can watch the Olympics on television, with an additional 30% staying put as they have tickets to events.
Twelve per cent of those affected said they would be staying the UK rather than going on holiday in order to soak up the atmosphere of the Olympics being in Britain for the first time since 1948.
Value is the key this year for those planning to get away. And 96% say that they will be taking at least one main holiday in 2012, up from the 91% in 2011.
The findings are backed up by 42% of people who have identified price as their number one holiday consideration, beating typical factors such as weather (32%) and accommodation (26%).
Price was considered most important for young couples with children, and was identified by mroe than half (51%) of those surveyed.
A fifth (19%) said they would use credit cards to pay for their main holiday and a further 46% said they will have to dip into savings to get away. Forty per cent said they will be able to afford a holiday on their 2012 disposable income.
They spent on average £829 on their main holiday last year including flights and accommodation. But holiday budgets are set to drop to an average £642 this year.
Despite this, consumers are looking to take a longer break this year, with 51% planning to take a main holiday of over a week.
One in 10 (11%) plan to holiday in Spain this year and a further 6% will visit Portugal or Italy.
Travelsupermarket travel expert said: “Brits place a very high value on their main summer break and many will have been expecting a huge event like the Olympics to have a massive impact on summer holiday plans in 2012. In reality, nine out of ten Brits refuse to let anything get in the way of their traditional summer break. Not even a once-in-a-generation event such as the Olympic Games.
“However, with extensive coverage of London and the UK on British television with both the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee, we could well see a surge in interest in ‘staycations’ if a feel good factor kicks in. And of course we could also see an increase in inbound tourism to British tourist hotspots off the back of these events.
“The research has shown that for the majority of Brits who do go away this year, value for money will be the main theme as they, as a whole, have less to spend than last year. In fact value is so important this year that ‘price’ was highlighted as the main consideration for the majority of Brits.”