Brainwashed or is the economic crisis not impacting travel
By Darren Cronian on Friday, December 19th, 2008

Sat reading the newspaper this morning it was interesting to read that 3 million Brits will be travelling abroad over the Christmas holidays. ABTA were quoted as saying that the economic downturn did not seem to be having an impact on the number of people travelling abroad.

Brainwashed or is the economic crisis not impacting travel

European destinations to struggle

Interestingly popular destinations for Christmas include Egypt, Turkey and Dubai, all non Euro currency countries. This is not good news for European tourist boards that will be even more desperate to attract consumers because of the weak British pound.

I wonder if this will mean we will see good offers for holidays in Europe.

Installing confidence

I was not sure if to take it as ABTA are trying to install confidence in the travel industry or if the credit crunch is not really having an impact on travel. Britain has a population of 60 million so 5% of the population are travelling abroad over the festive period.

That does not seem that high but then I do not know how this compares with previous years.

Brainwashing consumers

Travel associations will always try and paint a sunnier outlook on the travel industry, which is understandable but I always look a little deeper into their quotes because I think that they do like to brainwash consumers a little.


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10 responses to “Brainwashed or is the economic crisis not impacting travel”

Nathan | 19 December, 2008 at 1:56 pm

Hi Darren,

Exchange rates do make a difference, but remember it’s winter sun season – the main draw of Tenerife, Egypt, Turkey, Dubai etc this time of year is the weather. European destinations will get some city breakers and skiers though. (I spent Christmas Day on the slopes in Zell am See, Austria once – everyone skis in fancy dress. Fantastic.)

Generally I think the jury is out on how the economic downturn is hitting things – naturally operators and industry bodies have emphasised that Brits don’t want to forgo their hols, but the acid test will be Jan/Feb, the first peak booking period since things got really bad.

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Simon | 19 December, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Is the currency in Tenerife not the Euro? That’s news to me. I would suggest that the main destinations this Christmas aren’t greatly different from previous ones and are more to do with climate than currency. Also, I’m not sure how you think we will see good offers from Europe. Tourist boards have very little influence over the cost of anything. They can work with hoteliers and resorts on promotions, but the impact will be limited. The market eventually will have its way. If hotels and destinations that rely on the UK market start to suffer, they will have two choices – reduce their prices or try to attract business from elsewhere.

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Darren Cronian | 19 December, 2008 at 2:30 pm

@ Simon

Oh what an idiot I am this week. Sorry, yes, I copied the destinations from the press release without thinking!

@ Nathan

That’s a good point actually, never thought of that. I think people will probably still travel, I could not imagine a year without a holiday of some type. People will probably reduce spending in the high street for their holiday.

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Lifecruiser | 19 December, 2008 at 2:32 pm

Well, I only know that many are desperate for better weather even here in Sweden and I think they’ll probably sell their soul for it (lol), so maybe they just close their eyes for the following money problems they get afterward…? It sure will be interesting to see what happens during 2009.

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Andy Hayes | 19 December, 2008 at 5:49 pm

Plus keep in mind many folk may have already bought and paid for their holiday prior to the whole economic situtation. It has all happened awfully.

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Garri | 19 December, 2008 at 6:40 pm

Couple of points worth thinking about:

1. some people would have booked their holidays in advance, before September when things started to go from bad to worse in the economy.

2. some people will be better offer with the reduction in interest rates, especially those on trackers ;-)

3. they estimate that 3 million will travel abroad but it hasn’t happened yet, meaning in the time between booking holidays and actually taking them, some people will have been made redundant and may have to forgo their holidays.

I’m not so sure the ‘jury is out on how the economic downturn is hitting things’: it will hit everything in due course, even F1 and premier league is getting hit.

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Julia | 20 December, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Travel companies are all trying to keep on smiling. Some must be hurting more than others. Of course they will all say they are fine, they want to retain staff and customers.

I expect more holiday makers will look to booking a break in their own country for 2009 but won’t book anything yet, or even stay at home. Some will put it all on credit. and book as usual. Then there are probably many people that have booked a long way in advance (before credit crunch time), and as they get closer to making full payment will cancel, I expect many have done so already.

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Andy | 20 December, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Abroad from England is just a trip to continental Europe, for the last two years Thailand has had dropping tourism, the number of tourist has fallen in my opinion for two reason. One is the cost of Jet fuel this year, the second is because of the low cost carriers making allowing travelers inside Europe to visit Europe.

My head tech live in Goa, India and he says there are many British people selling their property, so many good deals.

I am presently in Guatemala, and all the locals say that tourism is down at least 25 percent.

My opinion is never trust anybody in the tourist industry to tell you anything truthful about tourism. I have traveled perpetually for over 10 years and 79 countries, this is not my first day on the road.

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Darren Cronian | 22 December, 2008 at 10:06 pm

@ All

Thanks for the comments – keep them coming.

@ Julie

I think that smaller travel companies really need to provide fantastic customer service and customers will come back. They have it tough against big brands as more smaller companies and airlines continue to go into administration.

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Olly | 23 December, 2008 at 10:03 am

Seems as though the big boys of travel are merging and the smaller ones disappearing. It’s almost impossible to get a job in this industry right now and a number of people I know have been made redundant.

Thomas Cook are doing well because they’re focusing on their online presence enabling them to sell holidays for little outlay.

Unfortunately for the consumer it means we could be back to the monopolies of the 80s resulting in a hike in prices.

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