AIBU to encourage people to holiday in the UK this year?

[BaliPebbles]

Growing up I did a few holidays in the Wales but as I got older we did the traditional Brit holiday of going to Spain (or Greece) for 2 weeks, lying on a deckchair everyday except one when we went out somewhere for a bit of culture (but became anxious of missing out on one tanning day), eating loads of creme caramel and then flying home and starting to peel before you left the arrivals lounge. As money improved, those hotels just got better and the destinations a bit more far away e.g. lying on a beach in Cancun.

I then lived overseas for nearly 20 years and went on some amazing holidays, still thinking that holidaying in the UK is just for the unenlightened.

Then we moved back to the UK with primary age children and we ventured to do a UK holiday. We were actually astonished at how great a time we had and how much happier the DC were and how much less stress it was. Mine don't actually want to be dragged through an airport and spend a whole day travelling, they don't want to go too far and away for too long. They like being in the car and stopping off. They like British things. Our UK holidays now consist of great food, interesting and off the beaten track excursions, somewhere nice to stay, history, culture and some activities.

Anyway, the reason why I am bleating on about this is because I just received a survey about using airlines once the lockdown is over. I filled it in and I realised that I don't actually want to go on a plane now for a long time. I don't want to add to climate change, I don't want to end up somewhere where coronavirus ramps up during my holiday, I do not want to be in a 5 hour queue either end of my plane journey and I don't want to listen to people coughing round me on a plane.

So, AIBU to remind people that we need to boost our own economy quite urgently and that actually, if you sit down and spend a couple of hours on the internet, you can make yourself a brilliant itinerary for a holiday in the UK because actually holidaying in Britain is great!

YABU to do anything that encourages UK resorts to be even more crowded than they obviously will be this summer.

No, thank you. I can't think of many things worst[sic] than that.
This has cropped up a couple of times on this thread - is a regional thing like brought and bought?

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Love that you spent decades, DECADES, travelling internationally for your holidays as 'tradition', a 'tradition' that actually isn't one for many, many families, but now you want to 'encourage' everyone to holiday at home.

Everyone will make up their own minds, thanks.

And most beach destinations in the UK for holidaying in are run down, over priced and have awful food.

We have plenty of breaks in the UK. We have a holiday property in the lakes which we go to a lot, and we book cottages in Devon / Cornwall.

We have a cottage booked in September, but we're not assuming we're going, as if locals don't want tourists there we obviously aren't going to impose ourselves on them.

Haven't the residents of Wales/Cornwall/Devon/the lake district made it pretty clear they do not welcome tourists?

I don’t feel we’d be welcome in cornwall this year.

Shame, I love it. But I may go back to Brittany when it’s open instead. It’s better value for money.

Will people from abroad be allowed to come here?

We love Skye, we’ve been almost every year for 7 years in August and it’s always heaving - more with people from mainland Europe and US and Canada than Brits. This year we booked to go in June hoping it would be quieter. . So that’s not going to happen.

We had a fabulous week in South Wales last year, but it wasn’t cheap. Just a big house on the coast with enough rooms for the DCs to all share and it was over £2k for the week. We were v lucky with the weather so spent a lot of time on the beach, but the one rainy day we had was dismal, ended up taking some of them out to find a castle to wander round but it was closed (in August) and the little local shops were so expensive that even getting an ice cream each or stopping for a drink on a walk was extortionate.

I love a UK holiday, but when DP and I have been away on our own to an AI hotel it really shows up the UK in price. Even camping in the Uk (because we have quite a big tent for 8 of us!) costs £30-40 per night plus extra for another car so for a week it’s a few hundred quid.

I don’t find UK holidays that expensive compared with abroad.

My cottage booking cost £750 for a week whilst my week in the Sun S/c was £2000. Food is about the same and drinks can now be cheaper in the UK. I think the EU destinations have got a lot more expensive recently. The one downside in the UK is paying for activities as you can’t lounge by the pool all day.

I will be off as soon as I can. Holidays in this country are so expensive compared to an all inclusive deal. Plus, it’s a pain driving for hours. I need guaranteed sunshine, different cultures. I love the excitement of the airport. To each their own I guess.

So, AIBU to remind people that we need to boost our own economy quite urgently

Absolutely, like the 250 000 of people in the UK who work (directly and indirectly) in the aerospace industry? All those who work for the airlines, the airports, the caterers, Airbus, Rolls Royce...

We've been going to the same place in Cornwall for decades. I'm in touch with some of the people there, who because that's how I know them, are involved in tourism. They are desperate for visitors as their livelihood depends on them and fed up with people who mostly have government-paid jobs and are paid anyway, who are sending out the 'stay away' message.

I'm booked for this year and intend to book again for next. If we go I shall be taking very careful note of which businesses are welcoming and which are not, and so will my credit card. And, if any of us starts to feel unwell, we will pack up and go home immediately. Who would want to risk being stuck in a hospital miles from home when the rest of the family has had to go home, the booking being finished?

I'm happy with holidays here or abroad - we've done both over the years. This year - not a chance. DH is furloughed so 20%+ cut in income. No idea if he will actually have a job to go back to. We're already cutting out non-essential spending so we can keep up with saving but our savings are going to be needed to live on, not spent on holidays.

And tbh, I'm not bothered about a holiday while the restaurants, pubs and bars are closed!

Travelling abroad is about to become prohibitively expensive, so many won’t have a choice anyway.

UK breaks are ok but quite expensive for what they are, it's usually just a bit extra to get more sunshine abroad

OP, perhaps you were doing short-haul European holidays wrong? Lying on the same beach or by the same pool for two weeks sounds hellish and boring to me. What I value about going abroad is the differences in food, landscape, culture, towns etc. I do the beach bit mainly for the swimming and the kids. It IS boring if that's all you do, though!

I love holidaying in the UK too but agree it's really expensive. I also suspect that this summer, with so many more people who aren't able or allowed to travel abroad, UK holidays (assuming they're allowed too) will be overcrowded and really unpleasant - no parking, beaches rammed more than usual, and quite possibly less infrastructure like cafes open to accommodate it all. I'm hoping to get a week somewhere uncrowded but only if we're allowed and only if it looks like things will be open. Otherwise, you just piss off the locals and risk spreading the fucking lurgy, and what's the point?

We often do a few long weekends and day trips in the U.K. as well as a holiday abroad. However, as soon as our government and the government of a country we want to visit say it’s fine to go, we’ll be booking.

As a mixed raced family, we feel that on average we get a better reception abroad than in some places in the U.K. and it’s often cheaper. I’m not spending my hard earned for me and my family to not feel totally comfortable. We also sometimes find that the service in U.K. tourist places isn’t as good as many places abroad and the weather’s very unpredictable.

In addition even before Covid we were very wary of visiting Brexity areas and that coupled with the way some locals in tourist areas have carried on about non locals during the pandemic means we’ll probably stay local (unless we can go to Scotland where we’ve always had a lovely time) and wait until we can go abroad again.

When things reopen I can imagine the tourist resorts abroad will be going in to overdrive to please tourists. Compare that to a group of angry folk here who look like they’ve just escaped from the Question Time studio yelling at you to fuck off back to whichever city you came from. No chance. We’re not paying out to be made to feel unwelcome.

Yabu. Have you ever paid for a uk holiday for a family of 5? It's twice the price of going abroad, crap weather, awful locals who are resentful and moody, sky high prices for food and drink/excursions and dirty hotel rooms

Wow my family of 5 can go abroad in August for £500 tops - please tell me where?

But that has never been my experience - well we have had bad weather, but we have also had great weather. It is almost as if no one has ever had a foreign holiday thwarted by the weather.

No sky high prices, no resentful locals (my parents who have holidayed in Devon for, well, ever are on speaking terms with quite a few locals), excursions cost as much or as little as you want and no dirty hotel rooms (we s/c)

I always wonder what people's idea of a UK holiday is, because those who are so negative seem to have such a different experience to me.

Staying in the country you live in is not a holiday to me personally. But I don’t know when we can travel again.

“Travelling abroad is about to become prohibitively expensive, so many won’t have a choice anyway.“

I’ve read the opposite, airlines will slash air fares to get travellers back.

"Mine don't actually want to be dragged through an airport and spend a whole day travelling, they don't want to go too far and away for too long"

I don't "drag" mine through the airport and they love going to far flung places and holiday for as long as we can. So YABU to assume your experiences are the same for others.

We also enjoy a UK holiday but they are often expensive if we want to eat out twice a day like we do on a beach holiday.

@BaliPebbles you do what you want to do. But I already had a trip abroad planned so the minute I can do that I'll be off, thanks all the same.

Decent weather in the UK in August☔☔☔☔☔
Not up to you tell people what to do or where they should spend their money.

We also enjoy a UK holiday but they are often expensive if we want to eat out twice a day like we do on a beach holiday.

I think that is maybe where we save money - we may have tea out once, and the rest of the time eat at home. In the summer we always take picnics.