Foreign holidays are increasingly the preserve of the well-off, according to a new heavyweight report which showed that the number of overseas holidays sold last year was less than at any time since 2000.
The total spend on leisure travel last year also fell to a five year low of £34bn – £2bn less than in 2007 – but the average spend on holidays continued to rise.
Mintel's British Lifestyle report found that despite the economic impact on holiday sales, tour operators have been able to increase their average selling price by remixing their portfolios away from cheaper packages towards higher-value, mid-haul and differentiated products and all-inclusive holidays.
In addition, they are selling fewer short breaks, lower-value trips.
The report concluded that although holiday volumes will pick up in line with growth in the economy, they are unlikely to reach pre-recession levels before 2016, by which time the average expenditure on foreign breaks will have risen 22.4% in today's prices.
"Foreign holidays are increasingly the preserve of better-off consumers," it said. "Almost half of people (46%) with incomes in excess of £50,000 per year will take a holiday to cheer themselves up when they’re feeling down but this compares to 22% amongst those living in households with an income of less than £15,500."
To try to get a better deal, the study found that consumers are being driven to book cheaper packages online with companies they don't trust.
More than half of those quizzed said that holidays booked online provided better value than other methods and almost one in four admitted they would book a cheap deal holiday with an online operator they had never heard of even though a third of them agreed they worried about travel protection when booking holidays on the internet.
By Linsey McNeill
