Brits’ travel and holiday plans crushed after fresh Omicron restrictions
UK holidaymakers are ditching their foreign travel plans in response to the latest Omicron variant and newly imposed restrictions.
Just 24 per cent of holidaymakers now plan to book a foreign holiday over the next 12 months, with a notable 76 per cent stating they will not be doing so, according to the latest research by hotel booking platform hoo, published this morning.
Back in October, just 55 per cent of holidaymakers stated they had no plans to book a foreign holiday in the next 12 months, down from a peak of 90 per cent recorded in January.
What’s more, 85 per cent of Brits have no plans to travel over Christmas now that restrictions have tightened due to the Omicron variant.
The emergence of the Omicron variant has brought “yet another dark cloud of uncertainty” over the travel sector and the government’s decision to implement travel restrictions seems to have immediately dampened the growing holidaymaker positivity, commented hoo Co-founder, Adrian Murdock.
In the short term, many will be facing the tough choice of whether or not to travel home for Christmas having not seen loved ones for two years.
hoo Co-founder Adrian Murdock.
“A further dose of travel uncertainty is the last thing we wanted to see but unfortunately we look set to endure another chaotic Christmas of travel due to the spread of the Omicron variant.”
“In the long term, we’re facing yet another setback for a travel and tourism sector that was only just turning a corner after the initial Covid outbreak early last year,” he said.
“We were starting to see signs of genuine optimism about travel with more holidaymakers feeling confident about booking a trip away, but unfortunately, we now find ourselves back where we started in this respect,” Murdock concluded.