One in three UK consumers have more to spend on their next overseas holiday as a result of the pandemic, according to research for Travel Weekly.
The survey by Service Science and Kantar in May found a significant proportion of UK adults feel better off than before the crisis and willing to spend more on an overseas holiday. However, the population appears evenly split between those feeling better off (32%), those worse off (33%) and those neither better nor worse (35%).
A smaller proportion (15%) agreed ‘strongly’ that they had more to spend on a holiday, with 17% agreeing ‘slightly’, while one in five (19%) strongly disagreed they had more to spend.
The proportion with more to spend was heavily skewed towards younger adults and parents with children at home and was weakest among those in middle age (45 to 64).
Two in five adults aged 16-34 (41%) reported they had more to spend on their next holiday abroad, as did one third in the 35-44 age group (34%) and those aged 65 and over (32%). Among parents, two in five (41%) also said they had more to spend. But among adults aged 45-64, just one in five (22%) reported having more money for their next holiday.
By contrast, two in five of those aged 45-64 (41%) disagreed they had more money, with 28% disagreeing ‘strongly’. Roughly one in three disagreed across all other age groups except the youngest adults (aged 16-24) among whom barely one in four (23%) disagreed. However, young adults typically spend the least of any age group on holiday.
There was considerable variation in responses by region, with 40% of respondents in London reporting they had more to spend on their holiday, 30% in the Southeast and 24% in the Midlands.
Service Science and Kantar surveyed 1,278 UK adults on behalf of Travel Weekly on May 4-6.