Stay at home Britain

2009 was truly the year of the British break with cottages4you reporting sales of domestic holidays well up on 2008.

The most popular areas were the traditional holiday hotspots of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and the Lake District but emerging destinations included South Norfolk and the Channel Islands, which saw the biggest growth year on year. Seven night breaks seemed to be the most popular, followed by four night long stays.

cottages4you managing director, Geoff Cowley said: “We started seeing an increase in UK bookings from January as holidaymakers chose to stay in Britain, where a one week cottage holiday can offer much better value than a week abroad.

“Despite the non-existent ‘barbeque summer’, the UK is a great year-round, all-weather destination and the character cottage option really puts people in control of how much they spend on a holiday. Those who enjoyed their 2009 break are booking early to get what they want for 2010 with repeat bookings significantly up on the same period last year.”

Geoff continued: “Although the UK’s popularity looks set to continue, sales of other destinations increased by eight per cent in 2009, showing the appeal of countries such as France, Spain and Portugal. Our new overseas programme villas4you launched in the Autumn and provides those still wanting to travel abroad the self catering option as a way of reducing costs.”