Holidays and Habits

In the late 1970s, air travel became affordable for the average family in the UK, and more and more British people started travelling abroad for their summer holidays. After all, the British weather isn’t very good, even in summer, so a lot of people leave the UK for a vacation. The “package holiday” is popular with families on a budget, because the cost of flights and accommodation is offered cheaply by travel agents. In the 1980s and 1990s, young people in the UK became wealthier, or at least had more disposable incomes. They started to go abroad in groups, to places such as Spain and Greece. However, British holiday habits have begun to change. The UK now has a warmer climate than before, so people don’t always feel they need to go overseas to seek good weather. Besides, the world seems a less certain place as economies rise and fall, which means that the cost of foreign holidays is less predictable than it used to be. As a result, more and more British people are choosing to spend their summer holidays in the UK. In recent years, some British hotels have seen a large increase in bookings. That rise is mainly owing to the British staying in their own country for their holidays. In addition, for some foreign tourists, the UK is a cheaper place to visit than previously because of changes in the value of the pound. In some ways, the UK has come full circle. There is now an increased appreciation among British people for the diversity of the UK. Its geography is diverse. The diversity of climate-based activities is on offer, which range from surfing in the warm southwest of England to hill-walking and skiing in the north. It is also the diversity of the cultures in the UK that is beginning to be of interest to domestic tourists. People sometimes forget that there are different accents, languages, traditions and foods across all the regions of the UK. It’s not just England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that are different from each other. Each country has its own regions, and each of those regions is very different from all the others. The UK has always been famous for its international explorers, but now it is starting to discover itself.