Barely one in 10 UK consumers are keen to take a foreign holiday as soon as possible or reassured they will be able to travel abroad before the end of the year, according to research for Travel Weekly.
A survey by Service Science and Kantar in May suggests 31% of UK adults intend to take an overseas holiday by April next year, but of these only 15% – or barely 5% of the adult population – would “travel at the earliest opportunity”.
An additional 15% felt “reassured” they would be able to take an overseas holiday before the end of the year.
Almost one in three prospective holidaymakers (30%) intended to “wait and see” how the traffic light system for international travel develops before booking, while an additional one in four (26%) either said they were “unlikely” to take an overseas holiday “while the traffic light system is in place” or were uncertain of the requirements for travel.
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The remainder simply didn’t know when they might book or travel.
The findings suggest substantial caution among consumers even before the government removed Portugal from the destination green list in early June.
There was a clear division by age on almost every response.
Almost one in five would-be holidaymakers under 54 (18%) said they would travel at the earliest opportunity compared with 5% of those aged 65 and over.
One in five (20%) aged under 35 felt reassured they would be able to travel before the end of the year, compared with 14% or less among all aged 35 and above.
One in four under-45s (26%) said they would wait to see how travel’s restart develops before booking, compared with 39% aged 55 and over.
Just one in nine of those under 45 (11%) said they were unlikely to take a holiday while the traffic light system is in place, compared with one in five (19%) who would delay booking among those aged 45 and above.
The survey found one in seven young holiday buyers (aged 16-34) unsure about overseas travel requirements (14%), second only to those aged 65 and over (18%). But less than one in 12 (8%) of those aged 45-64 said they were unsure.
Overall, the research suggests almost two in five adults aged under 35 who intend to have a holiday (37%) are confident about travelling abroad, falling to almost one in three aged 35-54 (31%) and one in five over 55 (20%).
However, those under 45 also appear more uncertain about travel, with 23% of respondents aged 35-44 and 17% of 16-24-year-olds unsure of their intentions. By contrast, just 6% of would-be holidaymakers aged 65 or over were unsure.
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