As the nights draw in and the promise of a ‘barbeque summer’ becomes a distant memory, the leading online provider of hostels and budget accommodation, Hostelworld.com, has released new figures showing exactly where people chose to travel to this summer. After all the predictions and hearsay the figures prove conclusively that this really was the summer of the ‘staycation’…
As the nights draw in and the promise of a ‘barbeque summer’ becomes a distant memory, the leading online provider of hostels and budget accommodation, Hostelworld.com, has released new figures showing exactly where people chose to travel to this summer. After all the predictions and hearsay the figures prove conclusively that this really was the summer of the ‘staycation’.
The endlessly talked-about economic environment coupled with the promise of good weather was clearly enough to persuade holiday-makers to stay on these shores. Every corner of the UK benefited from the ‘staycationers’, however as would be expected, it was the traditional British tourist hotspots that really dominated. Bookings into Newquay saw a staggering five-fold increase while other cities enjoying similar booms included Bath, York, Newcastle and Brighton.
Carmel Dunne, VP of Accommodation Relations for Hostelworld.com comments: “Overall we are delighted with what has been the best ever summer for Hostelworld.com. With record bookings into Britain, it is clear that the holiday makers did decide to stay at home this year. Furthermore though it shows that more people are turning to hostels as an extra way to save money”.
% increase in UK bookings
Newquay 500
Liverpool 140
Newcastle 120
Lake District 80
Bath 70
Brighton 70
York 70
Glasgow 66
Birmingham 50
Edinburgh 28
In Europe, there was a trend for less conventional destinations that enjoyed a bumper summer as travellers looked for alternatives to their traditional summer breaks. In Scandinavia the big rises were Stockholm and Oslo with 25% and 24% increases respectively while Hamburg, Ios, Zagreb and Porto also all climbed. Pisa in Italy was another riser with a 41% increase in bookings.
Despite many deciding to stay at home, it seems that those who did make it abroad continued the trend of choosing budget accommodation. Hostelworld.com can also reveal that destinations further afield enjoyed an increase in visitor numbers compared with summer 2008[2]. Asia in particular has seen record numbers flock to its cities. Kuala Lumpur for example saw a staggering 95% increase in visitor numbers while in Japan Osaka (37%), Kyoto (26%) and Tokyo (13%), have become more affordable and therefore more visited in the past year. Finally Singapore, traditionally seen as a very upmarket location enjoyed an 18% increase in visitors booking into hostels compared with the same time last year.
% increase in bookings around the world
Kuala Lumpur 95
Pisa 41
Osaka 37
Kyoto 26
Hamburg 26
Ios 26
Stockholm 25
Oslo 24
Zagreb 23
Porto 23
Carmel Dunne, VP of Accommodation Relations, again comments: “Though we had record bookings in Britain, it is also great to see that during these difficult times, hostels around the world are growing in popularity. As our figures show Asia has grown considerably in popularity. This is partly due to low cost airline Airasia developing a large market share into Kuala Lumpur and the rest of the region alongside the growth we have seen in new properties that have signed up with us in Asia.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
