Luxury holidays on the increase in spite of credit crunch

British holidaymakers would rather shorten their holiday than skimp on luxury, reveals analysis from leading travel retailer travelocity.co.uk. The company has seen the number of five-star and luxury holiday bookings increase by more than 10% for the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2007.

At the same time, the average duration of luxury holidays has reduced slightly from 12 days to 10 days.

The findings show the credit crunch and financial concerns in the UK have had little impact on the budgets for luxury holidays.

Furthermore, holidaymakers will trade up on the luxury of their holiday at the expense of the duration.

Destinations benefiting from the boom in British holidaymakers’ desire to indulge on holiday while refusing to compromise on luxury include:

• Mauritius
• Malaysia
• Sri Lanka
• Barbados

travelocity.co.uk Sales Director Andy Washington said: “British people work the longest hours in Europe so when they go on a hard-earned holiday more and more are demanding luxury.

“The credit crunch and concerns over the UK economy have only accelerated this trend. British people now want to go away and completely unwind from the stresses of work and the UK economy.

“This has to be done in the up-most luxury which means holidaymakers will shorten the duration of their break before they compromise the quality of the accommodation.”