Overseas trips part of the British lifestyle

It’s official overseas trips (along with tea and fish & chips) are part of the fabric of British society, with the weekend city break, obligatary summer holiday or increasingly regular trips to our ‘place in the sun’, a new Mintel report suggests Britons are taking far more overseas breaks now than they did five years ago and value their holidays like never before.

The Mintel study entitled “The British Lifestyles 2007″ shows UK residents spending increased by 28 per cent since 2002 on foreign holidays to reach a total overall spend of £23.8 billion.

The biggest takeaway from an international property investment perspective is the notable increase is being attributed to a long-haul holidays, as the fastest growing sector of the travel market, it grew to almost £8 billion between 2002 and 2006, showing our thirst for exotic shores and making the case for a real estate investment in Asian property.

Over the coming years, its seems our penchant for prolonged plane journeys is set to be fueled further as low-cost long-haul airlines hit the air travel scene. This week Canadian Affair announced flights from London to Toronto costing less than 200 return, whilst Air Asia X’s planned take off is July and Oasis Hong Kong Airlines are already operating flights to the Far East for 112 one-way. As it becomes even cheaper to fly further, it is inevitable more Britons will choose to holiday in distance destinations.

In sync with recent findings from research conducted by Tripadvisor showing Brits are upping their holiday quota this year from last, when asked by Mintel about up and coming holidays plans, it found up to 23 per cent of respondents were planning to take a major holiday overseas over the coming 12 months, with 22 per cent planning a shorter trip. Holiday spending is inextricably linked with consumer confidence, which Mintel found to be highest amongst the baby boomer demographic. “Their main spending priorities include major foreign holidays and short breaks. The clear message is that it takes a lot to dampen down consumer confidence, as last year Brits continued to spend, spend, spend,” said Neil Mason, senior retail analyst at Mintel. Demand for quality of life coupled with this generation in particular enjoying rising disposable income, has meant we are all increasingly trading up and spending more on better quality, premium products and services however this may be at the expensive of increased debt burdens as figures show last year, consumer expenditure hit £1.09 trillion, up 9% on 2005 figures.

Warmer weather spells in the UK have also improved the fortunes of the good old British holiday, which regained popularity over the past few years, domestic holiday sales have grown 20% since 2002 to £9.8 billion in 2006. Caravan anyone?

The drive to be more green, escalating interest rates matched with an uncertain housing market and even higher fuel costs are doing nothing to dampen the British appetite for travel abroad, so the questions remains…. where are you going on your hols this year?