Snaptrip Group Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Unit LG.03 Cargo Works, 1-2 Hatfields, London, SE1 9PG.
Company registration number 08774859. VAT registration number 201864825.
Research from two of the UK’s leading holiday booking platforms has identified a new travel trend this year, after noting a 62% increase in bookings for the week leading up to Christmas Day compared to the same period last year. Additional insights show that North Yorkshire is currently 2020’s most popular Christmas staycation spot, followed by Devon and Cornwall. Bookings for couples are the most popular type for the Christmas period, followed by groups of four, indicating that couples and families are looking to go away for the festivities this year.
Internal data from two of the UK’s leading holiday booking platforms has identified a new travel trend this year, after noting a 62% increase in bookings for the week leading up to Christmas Day compared to the same period last year (the week commencing the 21st December).
The brands also discovered that North Yorkshire is set to be the most popular festive staycation location in 2020, followed by Devon and Cornwall.
The findings, collated using LateRooms’, and Last Minute Cottages’ internal data, also revealed that the number of people in the UK booking winter Staycations has more than doubled (+105%) compared with the same period last year.
The brands also delved into the size of groups booking for festive staycations, and found that bookings for two people were the most common (41%) throughout December, followed by groups of four (17%), indicating that couples and small families or groups are opting to go away for Christmas this year.
When looking at which areas had been booked the most for the festive period, the brands discovered that North Yorkshire is set to be 2020’s most popular Christmas getaway location, receiving 75% more bookings this year during the week of the Christmas holidays compared to last year.
The top five festive staycation destinations in the UK are, along with the percentage increase in bookings this year compared with 2019 for the week commencing the 21st December:
Full details of the data can be found here.
North Yorkshire is the largest county in England by area, and is home to the picturesque YorkshireDales National Park and North York Moors National Park. Currently North Yorkshire, with the exception of the city of York which is in tier 2, is in tier 1, and therefore not subject to the more severe government restrictions currently enforced in West and South Yorkshire.
When delving deeper into the booking data from this year compared to last year, LateRooms and Last Minute Cottages also discovered which areas have experienced the biggest overall increase in popularity, with Dumfries Galloway (+190%) topping the list, followed by The Highlands (+172%) andThe Isle Of Wight (+166%).
East Sussex and Northumberland rounded off the top five, with an increase of 146% and 136%, respectively.
LateRooms and Last Minute Cottages trade under the Rest Easy Group umbrella, which also oversees Snaptrip, Big Cottages, Dog Friendly Cottages, and LateCottages. The group’s goal is to connect people with the perfect property for them, regardless of location, price, or size, and to make booking a holiday a stress-free experience.
Matthew Fox, CEO of Snaptrip Group, said,
“With the current coronavirus situation seemingly not going away any time soon, it’s unsurprising to see so many people looking for different ways to celebrate this Christmas. There’s always a slight rise in bookings across the festive period, however this is the highest we’ve seen in a good few years.
“It seems that people are anticipating not being able to celebrate Christmas in the traditional way this year, which may be why so many people have booked a festive staycation. Based on what we’ve seen it also looks like there’s a good number of people looking to take advantage of their remote working setup and booking ‘festive work stays.”
Snaptrip Group Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Unit LG.03 Cargo Works, 1-2 Hatfields, London, SE1 9PG.
Company registration number 08774859. VAT registration number 201864825.