Are you part of the Brit Hop generation?

We’ve had the ‘Staycation’, where holidaymakers spend their annual leave holed up at home to save money. Now Kwik-Fit has identified ‘Brit Hopping’ – a new trend to emulate expensive foreign multi-destination holidays from within the UK. So instead of Bangkok and Bali, think West End and Weymouth, Cardiff and Carmarthen or Glasgow and Glenfiddich!

Indeed with international travel down 8% on this time last year, Kwik-Fit’s research found that 6.6 million holidaymakers will jump in their cars to Brit Hop this year. Between them they’ll cover up to a whopping 6 billion miles at an average of 385 miles per round trip. That’s one tenth of the total mileage that Brits will cover in their cars during July, August and September 2009.

Almost half of all Brit Hoppers (46%) will visit two British destinations per trip, while 25% will visit three and 15% four.

Brit Hoppers are most prevalent in London with 53% of the capital’s motorists planning a multi destination road trip in the UK this year – a stark contrast to Wales where only 13% will Brit Hop.

To help keep Brit Hoppers on track Kwik-Fit is offering a pre-holiday car check that covers everything from tyre pressure to oil levels. Motorists should visit their local Kwik-Fit centre with no appointment necessary.

David White, customer services director at Kwik-Fit said: “The Brit Hop generation is here, and at the centre of it is the car. We’ve all become au fait with the concept of travelling around on foreign holidays, so why not on our soil? While this trend may be born out of financial constraints, it’s great to see that Britons are going all out to pack in as much as they can in to their holidays and are getting to know their own island a little better.”

Of course, with almost 600 centres in the UK anyone that encounters a motoring problem during a Brit Hop expedition is never far away from a Kwik-Fit centre.