Do "most" people really have an annual foreign holiday?

[PreservativeFree]

Reading on here how many people feel their annual getaway is essential, I'm surprised.

In my imeadiate circle, I'd say less than half go abroad every year. My parents haven't been abroad in years, although they do travel a lot in UK and could certainly afford it if they wanted to.

My closest friends occasionally visit family in France but generally don't like to be away from home.

My sister goes camping in France about once every 3 years, when they can afford it.

We're at a fairly comfortable stage in life and have had foreign holidays but quite often choose the Lakes instead.

My boss, on a six figure salary, has a camper van and usually stays in UK.

My young adult children are more likely to do an activity holiday with friends in UK than a lads beach and booze holiday.

I also know quite a few people who won't fly for environmental reasons.

Obviously, I do know people who go abroad too, but in my circle I don't think "most" people go abroad every year, even those who comfortably could if they wanted to.

I've tried to find some stats, but failed. Does anyone know?

We go abroad twice a year....one 10 day in the sun type of thing.....and 1 3 days city break ......we have also had x 3 6 week hols to oz to visit family and a 3 week hol to Canada to visit family .....I would say 80% of those I know go abroad every year.
This year we have had x 2 U.K. hols ( Yorkshire and Wales) ....they haven’t been cheap.

It's no odds to me, I'm travelling abroad for family probate purposes (but as there are no restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated, I'll be taking some trips therein) so permitted to go no matter what, but far be it from me to dictate what someone else finds essential to his/her life - I don't live in their skin and I'm so narrow-minded and condescending as to try to dictate to them what they find essential in their lives. Hell, some people find sex essential, I don't. But, I'm not them.

Until Covid we went abroad every year as do all of our friends. We do the odd weekend in the U.K. but we don’t holiday here. We usually do a 2 week summer holiday in Europe, a girls long weekend in Europe in June, 4 nights to a week with DP abroad in September / October and so long as the children don’t have exams after Xmas we do 10 days to 2 weeks long haul at Xmas,

It’s far from essential but there’s not a lot I would prefer to spend any spare money on

We are both tube drivers so spend a lot of the day down a tube tunnel 50 metres under London. We do opposite shifts for childcare so family time is precious. With working in a noisy, filthy environment we do yearn for our holidays abroad, we had two per year per covid. Since covid it has been difficult as we haven't had those holidays to look forward to, honestly some days you feel like you can't bear the rattling of the train another minute!

Most people I know do.

We live very close to an international airport though - if people had to drive four hours to get to Heathrow, I suspect fewer would do it. So I bet more people in Luton go abroad every year than people who live in Cornwall, because it is less hassle for them.

The proximity to an airport thing is probably a factor. I live near an international ferry terminal so lots of my friends and acquaintances use this. Many won’t fly for environmental reasons. I haven’t for 6 years.

Go once every two month, for a few days.
Then 3-4 longer, Overseas ones.

Think it depends on your life period. There were times when I didn't travel anywhere for years..
There are times when I just don't want to go anywhere and cancel the short holiday.

@Changechangychange

Most people I know do.

We live very close to an international airport though - if people had to drive four hours to get to Heathrow, I suspect fewer would do it. So I bet more people in Luton go abroad every year than people who live in Cornwall, because it is less hassle for them.

How on earth can the people of Luton afford to use their own airport? it's a very poor town

As a child we went abroad to Europe most summers, as well as having shorter breaks in the UK throughout the year.

My parents still travel a lot, despite being in their 70s, and jet off all over the world and my sister says she needs to go abroad every year.

I, however, love my little routine, find holidays quite stressful and disruptive and could quite happily go without them.

I agree with the proximity to the airport comments.

Even with environmental tax etc. you could still get flights for 15 quid with just hand luggage sometimes. It made a weekend away a month brainer compared with the cost in the UK.

Now I'm not saying this is right, and I will probably get flamed, but I live abroad and my mum is in the UK. I pay my babysitter 12 euros an hour. So if I could get my mum a 30 quid return flight, I would just fly her over instead of paying the babysitter. That's a trip not a holiday but we did it every couple of months.

So let's say you are not so well off but live near an airport. You get yourself cheap flights to Spain at a tenner each way. 100 quid transport for a family of 5 and you travel light - add one suitcase between you for 30 quid return. You find self-catering accommodation 300 for the week. That's having the right timing when you book to find a bargain and not peak season but not impossible.

Self catering holiday UK travel by train you might not get transport for under 100 quid and accommodation/food is usually more expensive and the weather is shit. I guess you could buy the shit-rag the Sun and collect the caravan tokens but you still have to buy food etc. when you get there and spend a week in the rain.

Before it was too cheap to fly. The environment suffered. But I do think you need to throw a lot of money at having a decent holiday in the UK. People who like camping will disagree so obviously that does not apply to you. If you like staying somewhere better than your own home and don't have a car you need £££. Train travel is just extortionate. Are there even any all inclusive uk hotels? If you don't want to cook on holiday eating out will also wrack up a big bill.

I also agree about the proximity to airport comments, I live really near an airport, half my street work at the airport, the other half are retired and wealthy. For all my neighbours and myself it’s totally normal to go on three to six foreign holidays /mini breaks a year. No one bats an eye if someone has a holiday and then the next month goes away again. Obviously this was all pre COVID. Now a couple of us went last September when it was allowed but this year it seems to be just UK trips. It will be interesting to see if our behaviour changes long term.

Usually every other year for us

@HotChocolateLover

With 5 of us (4 counting as adults now) an annual holiday isn’t doable. Our last one was in 2018 to Turkey and it was half board at a 3 star hotel for a week and we still spent £3.5k!! That wouldn’t be doable every year. It’s the school holiday premium that does it. When I looked, the same holiday was about a third cheaper had we been able to go about 4 weeks earlier.

Would you not take out ? Unless doing year before GCSEs

As our honeymoon has now been Cancelled 3 times, may 2020, may 2021, June 2021

We are moving to may 2022, over half term as our then 2yr if went last year will now be 5 next year , but taking few days off before and after, as flying home on the Monday is £160 per person, day later £45 pp

I usually holiday several times a year and DP and I make it a priority to travel so we compromise on other things. I went on holiday four times last year however not everyone I know travels internationally annually.

I think it’s pretty normal to have one foreign holiday a year. Many people have more, many less. In the last 15 years, we have done one foreign holiday a year for 10 of those years and had no holiday the other 5. It is a fun thing to do.

Of my friendship group in would say everyone loves to travel and that includes abroad as well as in the UK. My family live abroad but even so it is expensive to see them. We try for one weekend in a different European city each year and a couple of UK caravan breaks. If we had more money we would definitely travel abroad more. I absolutely love exploring different countries, cities, cultures. I love stepping off a plane somewhere completely new and having to find our way on buses/trains/teams etc...and I always love having a bash at speaking in whatever language it is. Pre-covid our trials were really economical...cheap early morning flights, hotels on the outskirts of cities, team passes for transport etc ... We love it.

HotChocolateLover
With 5 of us (4 counting as adults now) an annual holiday isn’t doable. Our last one was in 2018 to Turkey and it was half board at a 3 star hotel for a week and we still spent £3.5k!! That wouldn’t be doable every year. It’s the school holiday premium that does it. When I looked, the same holiday was about a third cheaper had we been able to go about 4 weeks earlier

4 of us all adults spent just a little more than that going to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
£3500 is extortionate for Turkey.

I think with package deals you are paying multiple times for the same room.
We always now go for a house and you pay for the size of house you want as a one off payment, with the flights separate. It works out as so much less unless you can find a really cheap deal.

We also find we save a lot on things like drinks when we are sitting next to a pool as we just nip in and pour a glass of juice/cola straight from the fridge from a bottle that has cost us 40p from the local supermarket instead of ordering stuff from a bar.

Apart from when DPs were working overseas when I was tiny so took advantage, from the age of 7 months to 25 years, I didn't go abroad (1st trip was our honeymoon).

Since then, we have gone abroad many years but not all - some have been to attend sports events (DD competes at high level), and tack on a holiday, some have been proper holidays, some just a weekend mini break.

Quite a few years (so not just last year for COVID), we have stayed here and travelled in this country for our holiday. And a good few years that we have travelled has involved going across the Irish Sea by ferry and exploring "next door".

Many of our holidays involve camping, or getting the use of a family holiday house near the sea in this country that is very well loved and near a great beach for surfing. And even when we do travel, more often than not, we stay in self catering sites or campsites.

@soreenqueen21 agree, it's a completely ignorant view. I have a wonderful life, nice house and enjoy my job, but exploring the world is what life is all about for me. I absolutely love experiencing new places, food, etc, just staying in the UK would be a very small life for me. It's not about escapism, it's about exploration and new experiences.

But a cottage in the Lakes/Pembrokeshire/Dorset is a week with no work, no school, all fun, everyone relaxed and happy in the admittedly not desperately hot sun, seeing things you don’t see in your everyday life, reconnecting with nature. What on earth is grim about that?

I’m not anti foreign holidays in normal times, I love a foreign city break, and would travel abroad far more often if other members of my family didn’t have issues with planes, boats, sunshine and heat

But the UK has some world class scenery, and I personally find a holiday cottage where you can spread out and bring your own stuff without being tied to what you can carry on a flight, and constant worry about heat, sunburn and migraines, significantly less stress inducing.

Uk breaks involve too much driving. I've tried them so many times. This year we're going to a UK city by public transport to see if that's more enjoyable.