The extent of the reining in of holiday spending last year is highlighted in a report out today.
Spending by Britons abroad fell by more than £560 million last year compared against 2008, according to the study by Visa Europe.
Spending in the US fell by £178 million to £1.45 billion, in Spain by £117 million to £1.71 billion and in France by £83 million to £1.40 billion. Despite this, Spain, the US and France still topped the list of destinations by spend.
More than two-fifths (42%) of those questioned said the strength of the pound had an impact on their travel destination.
However, the research indicates that 28% of holidaymakers plan to spend more than they did last year while 21% said they would spend less.
The analysis of transactions by 86 million UK Via cardholders found that total spending abroad fell by 4% (£564 million), as did the number of transactions (falling from 134 million to 128 million).
Accommodation spending dropped by 14% from £1.68 billion to £1.44 billion while spending on car rental fell by a quarter from £65 million to £49 million.
The amount spent in department stores abroad fell by 20% from £189 million to £151 million, while
Spending in supermarkets increased by 18% from £52 million to £62 million suggesting holidaymakers were choosing to self cater.
Namibia, Lebanon and Kenya saw a 53%, 40% and 28% upturn in spending respectively as they benefited from the relative weakness of the pound, as travellers sought to travel further afield.
Visa Europe head of debit Tony Gibbons said that due to the economic climate, in the last 12 months the company had seen a “slight slow down” in card spend abroad.
“The global downturn hasn’t put us off travelling; instead we’ve scaled back our spending and are looking to extract as much value from our trips as possible,” he said.
“For example, people are shifting spend from eating out to eating in. As people start to travel abroad again, we expect to see spend pick up over the next few years.”
by Phil Davies
