VisitBritain has published wave 27 of their Consumer Sentiment Tracker which covers fieldwork conducted between 22-26 March.

Confidence and overnight trip intent are marginally down, as is the proportion expecting normality to return to their lives by the end of the year (50%). There is a higher proportion of spring trip intenders saying they have already planned and booked their overnight trips, which now stands at 50% and 44% respectively. However, bookings for summer trips remains flat at just 19% – 17% of adults now plan on taking a day trip within the next two weeks, which is significantly up on last wave.

Highlights from wave 27 include:

• The national mood is up 0.2 points to 6.7/10
• The same proportion consider the ‘worst is still to come’ compared to wave 26 (17%).
• The Appetite for Risk score is stable at 2.4/4, with ‘visiting a busy city centre’ having the lowest score among the various activities listed (also stable at 2.0).
• Almost half of adults anticipate taking more or the same number of overnight domestic trips between now and end of the year compared to normal.  This compares with just over a quarter of adults with similar intent regarding overseas trips.
• Confidence edges down, with 33% fairly/very confident a trip booked for this June could proceed as planned (down 5 points).
• 14% anticipate taking an overnight trip this spring (Apr – June) rising to 35% during the summer (July – Sept).  This compares to 16% and 37% respectively last wave.
• Among those who are intending to take a trip this spring, 50% have reached the planning and 44% the booking stages of their trips, which is up from 43% and 29% respectively last wave.
• The South West remains the lead destination for spring trips with a commanding 24% share; 12 percentage points ahead of second placed North West.
• The leading destination type for spring trips is ‘traditional coastal/seaside town’ (32%) narrowly ahead of ‘countryside or village’ (31%).
• The accommodation types most likely to be used on overnight trips this spring are ‘commercial rentals’ (e.g. holiday cottages) on 39%, ‘camping/caravan’ (37%), ‘Hotel/motel/inn’ (34%) and a ‘private home’ (also 34%).
• Some 43% of UK adults intend to take a day trip to a ‘traditional coastal/seaside town’ and 42% to a ‘countryside or village’ destination at some stage this spring/summer.  This compares with 23% intending to visit a ‘large city’.

Access all the results here.