Heading for some winter sun

WITH the winter chill predicted to last four months in the U.K. Brits will be heading abroad for some winter sun in their droves. Research conducted by beach holiday specialist On the Beach has revealed Spain as the most popular winter sun destination this year, with the Canary Islands and resorts across the mainland attracting more Brits than any other destination in Europe, with Turkey firmly back in the Top 5 winter sun destinations.

Top 10 most popular winter sun destinations:

1.   Canary Islands
2.   Mainland Spain
3.   Balearic Islands
4.   Turkey
5.   Algarve (Portugal)
6.   Greece
7.   Malta
8.   Morocco
9.   Egypt
10. Cyprus

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Lower your voice . . .

AS Brits holidaying abroad, it’s true to say we have long-suffered a poor reputation amongst our European neighbours.

Whilst it is true that only a small percentage of individuals are responsible for the tarnished reputation of ‘Brits Abroad’, travel site momondo.co.uk has discovered that this status has perhaps even taken its toll on other Brits over the years, as many of us now shy away from other Brits when travelling overseas.

Surveying British attitudes, momondo discovered that for 32% of us, if we hear someone with a familiar British accent while travelling abroad, we will only talk to them if they initiate contact. Furthermore, 15% of us will simply smile but not initiate contact, and 6% of us will even go so far as to lower our voices, so the other person doesn’t know we are from the same country.

Additionally only 15% of Brits surveyed will start a conversation with a fellow British traveller when on holiday, and only 14% of us prefer it when there are many tourists of their own nationality at their chosen travel destination

Also 5% of Brits admitted to avoiding fellow compatriots abroad, as they prefer to talk to locals, while 3% of multi-lingual Brits will quickly switch to another language, so fellow Brits won’t know they are from the same country.

Finally 19% of us prefer it when there are many tourists of other nationalities at our destination.

Neil James Cartwright, spokesperson for momondo comments “We Brits have a fair way to go still, in terms of earning back a shining reputation of being perfect travel guests to other nations. Too often the small minority of drunk, trouble-making Brits hit the headlines, when we know the majority of British travellers are perfectly delightful.

“We urge all travellers to stay unprejudiced about all nationalities. Travel should be about learning and engaging, and this can only be done with an open mind. Our DNA journey campaign last year proved we have far more nations in our ancestral DNA than we usually imagine, which makes being tolerant and liberal when we travel even more imperative,” concludes Cartwright.

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Brits plan beach holidays for 2017

ACCORDING to a recent survey by Momondo the ‘bucket and spade’ beach break came out tops, with almost half, at 48%, planning one.

Next in popularity was the city break, with 43% of Brits due to visit a new or favourite city in 2017.

Although sporting holidays often can appear a fashionable choice, only 6% of Brits stated they were planning either a skiing, sports or cycling holiday in 2017.

Similarly, interrailing (travelling from place to place by train) and hiking, also only attracted 7% of votes each.

Slightly more popular were camping breaks, at 17% of Brits taking one, road trips at 13%, and renting holiday homes in the UK or abroad at 13%.

Just 12% of Brits said they would be going on a cruise and lastly 10% of Brits are taking a relaxing break, such as a yoga holiday.

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Brits post holiday blues rise

THE return back to school for most kids during the first week of September officially marks the end of summer.

A recent survey carried out by travel site momondo.co.uk found 61% of the people questioned experienced ’the holiday blues’, when returning from their travels compared to only 56% last year.

Spokesperson at momondo, Lasse Skole Hansen, states: “Taking a break is a huge source of happiness for most. The annual summer holiday is often the last luxury to be spared when household budgets are squeezed, due to its positive effects, both mentally and physically. Far from regular routines and enjoying new experiences, travellers feel happier on the whole. So in reverse, a return to the daily grind can have the opposite effect on morale.

“We’ve previously seen that Brits use planning a new holiday to beat their holiday blues, by dreaming about the next holiday they would like to take on their return. If Brits are looking for an autumn getaway, they do need to book now however, as tickets are generally cheapest 53 days in advance, according to our survey of 12.6 billion fares on momondo’s most searched routes.”

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Top 10 items stolen from hotels revealed

RESEARCH has revealed the top ten most commonly stolen items from hotels by Brits abroad: holidaymakers are most likely to help themselves to towels, soft furnishings, batteries, and cutlery/crockery.

In the survey by www.sunshine.co.uk, 2,623 people aged 18 and over from around the UK were asked to answer honestly questions about items they’d taken from hotels in the past … if any. 

When asked ‘Have you ever stolen anything, however small, from a hotel during a holiday abroad?’ 56% said ‘yes’. A further 14% of the respondents confessed that they had been caught in the act of taking something that wasn’t theirs from a hotel abroad. Anyone who had stolen a hotel item in the past was asked to name everything they had taken in this manner in the past, which revealed the following top 10 answers:

1. Pool towel(s) – 31% 
2. Room towel(s) – 27% 
3. Soft furnishing (e.g. cushions) – 22% 
4. Batteries – 20% 
5. Cutlery/crockery/glassware – 18% 
6. Slippers – 12% 
7. Robe – 9% 
8. Light bulbs – 8% 
9. Bedding (duvet cover, pillow cases, blankets) – 4% 
10. Decorative accessories (e.g. a vase) – 2% 

1% of the hotel thieves said that they had taken electrical items (such as alarm clocks, music players or remote controls). Two respondents admitted they had previously taken a television from a hotel on holiday abroad. Another admitted to stealing a bible from their hotel room.

When respondents were asked why they had stolen items from hotels, 47% said the ‘hotel would have plenty more spare’ and 28% said it was in order to get their ‘money’s worth’.

Chris Clarkson, managing director of sunshine.co.uk, said: ‘Stealing is wrong on many levels and unfortunately I think many people don’t consider taking from hotels to be theft. The truth of the matter is that taking anything that doesn’t belong to you is stealing. Hotel guests need to respect the fact that the items in rooms they stay in aren’t there for the taking, but are there to enjoy during their stay.’

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Safety fears affect Brits’ holiday planning

MORE Brits are likely to take a short UK break this year – and more are considering personal safety issues when planning their travels, according to research.

A poll of more than 1,000 UK residents found that 73% will have a short ‘staycation’ this year, up from 71% in 2015. But only a quarter (24%) plan to have a longer break of more than four nights in the UK, according to the findings by research consultancy BDRC Continental.

The study found that Brits are increasingly concerned about personal safety overseas, and more than three quarters (77%) of Britons see safety as an issue in holiday planning.

The results ‘point towards a volatile world situation creating a “safety-first” British holiday-maker’, say the report’s authors.

Jon Young, research director at BDRC Continental, said: ‘It’s no surprise that the issue of safety has taken on such prominence given the tragic world events in the last 12 months or so.

The study also revealed that almost half of respondents (46%) trust online reviews to be accurate and a similar proportion (48%) take more notice of reviews than star ratings.

The Scottish Highlands, Cornwall, the Lake District, and London are the four most popular UK destinations, says the report.

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Brit called Foreign Office to ask where to buy bacon abroad

BRITS ABROAD contacted the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) last year with bizarre questions, ranging from where to buy English bacon in Europe, how to hire a butler in Lebanon, and how to avoid nudists in Spain.

The FCO has released details of the 10 strangest calls as a reminder to the travelling public that it provides only an emergency service.

The calls included:

A man planning to move to Spain was worried he would encounter nudists walking through the streets

A homesick expat asking where he could buy English bacon

A lady in Lebanon looking for help to recruit an English butler

A European filmmaker looking for an English pensioner to play a part in his film

A woman who was disappointed by the British Embassy’s failure to send someone to give her a tour of St. Petersburg on her arrival in Russia

A British man asking for assistance to get illegal employment in Singapore

A confused businessman looking for information on the construction of plug sockets

A man in South Korea asking what he could do with his old pound notes

Almost half a million calls were made to the consular service last year and the FCO assisted with numerous cases, helping 3,250 Brits who were hospitalized, 4,770 who were arrested, and the families of 3,670 who died overseas.  Almost 38,000 replacement travel documents were issued.

Head of the FCO's Global Contact Centres, Kelvin Green said: ‘We receive thousands of calls a year, and do all we can to help people who find themselves in difficulty abroad. But we cannot help people make travel arrangements or lifestyle plans, lend them money, or pay medical and other bills for them. I would urge people to prepare well before they travel, making sure they have valid travel documents and insurance.’


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Christmas Day travel boom as Brits seek savings

INCREASING numbers of Britons are opting to take advantage of cheaper flights and travel abroad on #ChristmasDay, according to figures published by London Gatwick Airport. 

Passenger numbers at the airport are expected to be 48% higher on December 25 than on Christmas Day last year, with total traffic over the Christmas period more than 9% higher than last year.

Those who are prepared to fly on Christmas Day can expect to make significant savings on their tickets. Flights from Gatwick to a range of destinations across the world were found to be, on average, 31% cheaper on Christmas Day than identical tickets on other days during December, with some destinations significantly cheaper.

A 5.40pm Norwegian Airways flight from Gatwick to New York JFK on Christmas Day currently costs just £239, compared to £329 24 hours later – a saving of 28%. Similarly, a flight to Miami will set passengers back £599 a week before Christmas, but just £329 on the day itself – a 45% saving.

Half of the top ten destinations on Christmas Day are long haul flights to locations as diverse as Orlando, Goa, and Las Vegas, with the Dubai the most popular destination.

Gatwick’s chief commercial officer Guy Stephenson said: ‘More and more passengers are wising up to the fact that flying on Christmas Day can bring with it big savings. Here at Gatwick, we have an incredibly dedicated team of people who will be giving up their own Christmases in order to ensure our passengers go safely on their way, as they would on any other day of the year.

Gatwick’s top ten Christmas Day destinations by passenger numbers:

• Dubai 
• Madrid 
• Orlando 
• Istanbul 
• Bridgetown 
• Barcelona 
• Montego Bay 
• Las Vegas 
• Tenerife 
• Goa 

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Brits warned over failure to check credit and debit card fees

UK RESIDENTS made 60.1 million visits abroad last year, but research published by the DCC Forum says that 40 percent of UK consumers never or rarely check the exchange rates and fees they will be charged for using their credit or debit card abroad … despite the fact that almost 75 percent check for the best exchange rates from currency providers when purchasing foreign money. 

The findings also reveal that one in five respondents were not aware that banks and card providers levy transaction fees on overseas credit and debit card purchases. More than half of those surveyed knew and the transaction costs existed, but were unaware of the amounts involved.

This is likely to have a significant impact on the charges and rates paid by consumers travelling overseas, as the study found that UK travellers will spend at least £7.6 billion on tcredit and/or debit cards when abroad over the next twelve months.

The results additionally pointed to a generational difference in checking card rates before going abroad.

The forum commissioned the research with YouGov, coinciding with its launch as a new industry body designed to help consumers understand the payment choices when using credit or debit cards abroad. It also oversees best practice of Dynamic Currency Conversion, the service whereby credit and debit card holders abroad have the choice of having each transaction converted to their home currency at the point of payment.

Gino Ravaioli, chairman of the DCC Forum, says: ‘For UK consumers, credit and debit cards are an important means of buying goods and services abroad, and are one of many payment choices available. That said, our study has revealed that many consumers are not checking card rates before leaving home, which is likely to negatively impact their ability to make the right decision on card transactions.

‘Just as holidaymakers shop around for the best foreign currency exchange rates, they need to ensure they check credit and debit card fees in advance too. For those who remain unaware of the currency options on a card machine or ATM abroad, the forum wants to improve understanding surrounding the choice to make a transaction in sterling via DCC or in the local currency. Where both options are subject to similar levels of exchange rates and fees, DCC offers consumers the familiarity of paying in pounds, and the ability to keep track of spending by clearly showing the amount of money leaving their bank account at the point of purchase.’

www.dccforum.com

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FCO’s helping hand for Brits

BRITAIN’S Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) consular staff helped 46 people in serious trouble every day in 2014/15. The figure is set against some 60 million trips overseas by British nationals last year, alongside the five million Britons who live overseas.

The FCO’s Helping British Nationals Abroad report also shows that the department issued almost 38,000 emergency travel documents to help people return to the UK.

A global network of 267 British embassies, high commissions and consulates handled more than 470,000 enquiries, and FCO staff supported British nationals in 15 crisis situations across the world. 

The report reminds travellers that the FCO cannot help them enter a country if they do not have a valid passport or necessary visas. Nor is it able to give legal advice, investigate crimes, get UK citizens out of prison, secure hospital treatment, pay bills, or make travel arrangements.

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