Costs and attitudes towards holidays in 2023 : Data hub

Since 2019, the topic of travel has been a very uncertain one due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with global international tourist arrivals falling by 72.4% in 2020. Most travel restrictions are now a thing of a past, but the cost of living crisis in the UK is forcing Brits to dramatically rethink their spending, so it will be interesting to see how this impacts holiday trends in 2023.

To find out more, we have sourced the key facts and statistics of the costs and attitudes towards holidays in 2023.

Here at Little Loans, we have conducted our own research as well as collecting data from trusted sources from the travel industry which will be included and referenced throughout this collection of statistics.

Most popular holiday destinations for 2023

Using Google search data, our researchers have predicted what will be the most in-demand holiday destination for 2023. The research has uncovered that Amsterdam is currently the most popular destination for Brits to travel to, with a 306% increase in Google searches for the search term ‘flights to Amsterdam’ this year compared to last.

According to our research, the top 10 most popular holiday destinations for Brits to travel to in 2023 are:

In comparison, the top 10 most popular destinations for Brits to travel to in the previous year were:

Due to the cost of living crisis, a potential factor when deciding where to travel in 2023 will be cost. With Amsterdam being less expensive than New York as a whole, this could indicate why it is the most popular holiday destination for Brits in 2023.

Our researchers uncovered that:

• The average cost for overnight accommodation in Amsterdam is approximately 140 euros (£122.54)
• The average cost for overnight accommodation in New York is approximately 234 U.S. dollars (£189.47)

Exchange rates over the past five years

Our researchers investigated the exchange rate of each of the currencies of the top 10 forecasted travel destinations for 2023. By comparing the difference between 2023 and 2018, the results indicate whether the locations are ‘cheaper’ or ‘more expensive’ than they were five years ago.

From the research, it appears that out of the top 10 travel destinations for 2023, only Pakistan and Australia are cheaper travel destinations than they were five years ago. Whereas Dubai and New York have become the most expensive in the past five years in terms of currency.

With costs rising, Brits are looking for ways to save money when they travel. Research from ABTA shows that 29% of people are planning to take an all-inclusive holiday in 2023 to help them manage their finances and in a survey carried out by Travel Counsellors, 30% of respondents said that they would be more inclined to book an all-inclusive holiday so that they do not need to pay extra abroad.

Attitudes towards going on holiday in 2023

In 2022, Brits started booking more flights and heading back out into the world after the Covid-19 pandemic. Now in 2023, it seems that the cost of living crisis will be the biggest barrier in jetting off abroad. We have investigated attitudes towards holidays in 2023 to find out more.

According to Statista, the consumer price index of package holidays has increased from 111.7 in 2019 to 117.1 in 2021, and it is set to rise even further, so it’s clear that the rising costs are impacting travel. In light of this, what are Brits’ attitudes towards going on holiday in 2023?

• In a survey conducted in September 2022 that received data from over 2,500 of Travel Counsellors’ customers, 76% of the respondents said that they were still intending to travel as planned in 2023.
• Out of the 2,500 respondents, 24% said that they want to make the most of any deals by booking their holiday early.
• The survey showed the need for flexibility when people are booking their holidays, as over 60% of the respondents said they were interested in low deposit options or flexible payment terms.
• Data from Hotels.com has shown that interest for three-star and under hotels is up by 20% and that in 2023, 39% of UK travelers are planning to stay in affordable 1-3 star hotels.
• A poll carried out by GoCompare found that 22% of people are looking to spend less on their holiday in 2023 and 12% will go to cheaper destinations to try and save money.
• The GoCompare poll also showed that a fifth of people say that they want to reduce the number of getaways and 17% are planning a staycation instead of going abroad.
• 57% said that if holiday prices were to increase in 2023, it would have an impact on their holiday plans even further.
• Only 1% of people said that they would go to more expensive destinations or spend more money on their holiday.

Another issue that the travel industry is facing is air travel uncertainty. In 2022, we were faced with delays, cancelled flights and airport staff shortages. This has seen to have some impact on holidaymakers’ plans for 2023.

• In the same GoCompare study reffered to previously, 39% of participants said that these issues will not impact their 2023 holiday and 19% were unsure if it would impact their holiday plans.
• However, 18% of people in this study said that they would be flying less in 2023 because of airport issues and 15% admitted that they will avoid flying from the worst affected airports.
• 18% of this study said that they will avoid any potential airport issues and would rather go for a staycation instead of having to fly.

Summary of statistics

From our research and research from other trusted sources, we believe that Brits are still planning to travel abroad in 2023, however the cost of living crisis and airport delays are impacting decisions. Based on the findings, we believe that we will see a rising interest in budget trends throughout the entirety of the year.

Ahrefs was used to source the 1,000 keywords containing the word “flight” with the highest monthly search volume in the UK, in order to provide keywords and travel locations to further investigate. In other words, this gave us the 1,000 most Googled phrases each month related to “flights”. Google Keyword planner was then used to analyse these terms further, for the most recent time period available, which was December 2022. Therefore researchers were able to uncover which terms out of the 1,000 in question had the highest search volume for December 2022 compared to 2021.

The exchange rate data was sourced on 16th January 2023 using xe.com, investigated within a five year time period.