Staycations set to rise as Brits maintain post-Brexit holiday spend

British consumers will aim to maintain their spending habits on holidays over the next 12 months, but staycations are expected to rise due to Brexit, a new survey from PwC has found.

Respondents to the survey – which polled 2,000 people across England, Scotland and Wales ‒ said that spending on their ‘main holiday’ would be their second top spending priority over the next year (35 per cent said this) second only to 45 per cent who said grocery shopping would be their highest priority.

The Brexit effect – causing the Sterling to lower in value ‒ saw 67 per cent of respondents say they expected going abroad to become expensive, with 45 per cent saying they would likely take more holidays in the UK and over half (54 per cent) expecting to have less money to spend on holidays overall.  

Over one in five (22 per cent) respondents said they would consider reducing their main holiday spend if they felt ‘squeezed’ over the next year – although they would be more likely to cut spend on eating out (39 per cent), going out (34 per cent), and buying clothes, shoes and accessories (28 per cent) first.   

The report was presented at this year’s ABTA Travel Convention in Abu Dhabi.

David Trunkfield, PwC’s hospitality and leisure lead, said: “There has been a positive trend in both the number of outbound leisure passengers and their spending [however] our survey results show that 54 per cent expect to have less money to spend on leisure activities such as holidays.

“This could be good news for UK tourism as the weaker pound should lead to higher inbound leisure tourism.”