Calling all pink ladies and barmy armies!
26 June 2008
For most group trips travelling abroad wearing a ‘tour T-shirt’ is as obligatory as taking a passport or foreign currency. This summer low cost airline, Jet2.com, begins its celebration of this great British tradition with a search for the nation’s most imaginative and creative tour T-shirt.
With the group travel period heading towards its summer climax, Jet2.com has reported a ten-fold increase in group bookings, with Ibiza and Hamburg topping the list as favourite group holiday destinations.
Booking figures from Jet2.com further reveal that as much as 25 per cent of its planes are filled with groups travelling abroad to celebrate everything from birthdays and anniversaries, to stag and hen dos and even divorce parties.
To pay tribute to its group travellers, Jet2.com is today launching a nationwide search to find the best and most imaginative tour t-shirts for summer 2008, with the winning group of revellers receiving 15 return flights to a Jet2 destination.
To enter, all people need to do is upload pictures of themselves and their friends wearing their tour t-shirts at jet2.com/tourtshirts. Visitors to the site can vote for their favourite and the winning tour t-shirt will be announced on 1st September 2008.
Jonathan Alcock, Marketing Manager at Jet2.com said: “With so many groups travelling through our airports using our Group Booking Facility to take the stresses out of travelling we see all kinds of quirky and imaginative tour t-shirts and fancy dress.
“At Jet2.com, we think that group tour T-shirts add a splash of humour and colour to the journey an with return flights to a European destination for a group of 15 people up for grabs I would encourage anyone who has ever worn a tour t-shirt to get their picture posted on the site!”
In a bid to get to the bottom of Britain’s tour t-shirt obsession, Jet2.com has also employed the expertise of Social Psychologist Helen Mason, from the University of the West of England.
Speaking about the cultural significance of tour t-shirts, Helen commented, “Tour t-shirts are laden with cultural significance and are an extension of the ways in which people choose to show group belonging. They’ve been popular for many years but this seems to have increased since the early 2000’s which saw the renewed popularity of the slogan t-shirt from the 1980’s, with strong political and social statements.
“Tour t-shirts are an ideal way of signifying a group’s identity in a foreign land, reaffirming that the wearers are part of a select group. The beauty of the traditional tour t-shirt is that wearers can express group belonging whilst at the same time revealing something about their own personality, with the inclusion of nicknames and numbers.”
Jonathan Alcock continued: “With Wayne Rooney setting the trend for tour t-shirts this Summer by donning one on his stag do, there is no better time for people to show us their own examples.”
*To enter your tour T-shirt, or see a gallery of entries, visit jet2.com/tourtshirts. All entries must be received by 17th August 2008. Prize up to 15 return flights to a choice of one of a selection of Jet2.com destinations.
