Eva Satkute Stewart, global sector head of travel and tourism at YouGov, says remote workers are interested in mixing work and play when it comes to travel
YouGov 37% of UK adults who can work remotely say they’re interested in taking a workcation. Which destinations would they visit?
Many of us have been told to keep work and play apart but ever since remote working became more accessible to people, the popularity of workcations has been on the rise.
Workcations are one of the latest travel trends to emerge from the pandemic and it seems like it will stick around this year. A new YouGov poll of UK adults who can work remotely reveals that more than a third (37%) are interested in taking a workcation in the next 12 months.
This trend seems to be of notable interest to younger working people, which is not surprising given the ties some older people have. Three in five (61%) UK adults aged 18 to 34 who are able to work remotely say they are very or fairly interested in taking a work trip combined with a personal holiday.
So, what types of trips are they interested in and where would they go?
We asked remote workers who expressed interest in workcations about how they would like to spend their trip. It was a close run-off between three types of destinations: lakes, mountains or countryside (49%), beach/coast (48%) and big cities (45%).
Close to two in five also show interest in historical towns (38%), islands (36%), or remote natural destinations (36%).
A quarter (24%) were looking to spend their workcation at a destination with friends/family close by. Nearly another quarter (23%) were more practical and said they would go to a location with a similar time zone to the UK. And an additional 14% say they were looking to spend a workcation somewhere with access to winter sports such as skiing and snowboard.
As for the places they want to travel to, Italy ranks at the top of the list. Roughly half of UK adults who are able to work remotely and are interested in workcations say they would like to visit the country. Spain and the Spanish islands are another popular destination among remote workers, with 46% saying they would like to go there.
European countries are particularly popular among remote workers, with roughly two in five saying they’d like to visit France (41%), Portugal (41%) and Greece (40%).
There’s also strong interest to visit further flung destinations such as Canada (42%), the US (40%), New Zealand (39%) and Australia (35%).
Many companies looking to retain workers moving forwards and flexibility may be key to winning their loyalty, especially with a new generation of workers.
Combine this with a fifth (21%) of Brits saying they want to travel more as part of their New Year’s resolutions and you have a recipe for the workcation trend to stay as a new blended travel experience.