The latest Sentiment Tracker highlights consumers concerns particularly regarding the cost of living – unsurprisingly. Some of the key findings are:
- Fewer people expect to take UK trips in the next 12 months (versus pre pandemic times)
- 4 in 5 (80%) of UK adults think ‘the worst is still to come’ in relation to the cost of living crisis, an increase on the previous three months
- Fewer UK adults feel their financial situation is ‘alright’ compared to August, down from 20% to 15%, driven by a rise in the proportion of those ‘hit hard’ and having to cut back on spending, up from 20% in August to 25% in September.
However, there is some good news in that 27% of UK adults intend to take more domestic overnight trips in the next 12 months compared to pre-pandemic times, while 30% intend to take fewer overseas trips, suggesting a switch from overseas to domestic travel (Figures 7 and 9).
The top five reasons for preferring a UK holiday are:
- 1. UK holidays are easier to plan (60%)
- 2. UK holidays are cheaper (51%)
- 3. To avoid long queues at airports/cancelled flights (47%)
- 4. Shorter / quicker travel (42%)
- 5. Uncertainty around restrictions at overseas destinations (38%)
While the ‘rising cost of living’ is the top financial barrier to taking overnight UK trips across all life stages, it is least dominant amongst retirees and most prominent among pre-nesters and older independents (Figure 11).
The short lead time for booking a UK trip remains a constant – 57% of UK adults will have booked their domestic October trip within 1 month of going on the trip. Short breaks (1-3 nights) remain more popular than longer breaks (4+ nights). The top two intended activities are ‘trying local food and drink’ and ‘walking, hiking’ – both significantly higher than other activity options.