UK: Airbnb has revealed the trending staycation destinations in the United Kingdom ahead of an anticipated surge in domestic travel over the summer period.
Hospitality venues and establishments, such as holiday lets, cottages, BnBs and hotels were allowed to reopen their doors in England on 4 July [Saturday].
The rest of the UK has seen stunted re-openings of their respective hospitality sectors over the summer, with Northern Ireland the first to allow pubs, hotels, restaurants et al to open up again on 3 July. In Wales, however, venues will remain closed until at least 13 July and in Scotland, self-catering accommodation that is only accessible through an internal shared space is being restricted from reopening until 15 July at the earliest.
According to internal data, Airbnb said it saw an upsurge for bookings over the reopening weekend, as domestic travel accounted for 70 per cent of the stays booked between 27-28 June for the following weekend.
Of those trips, 60 per cent were for two- to six-night stays and almost 50 per cent were made for within a month of booking. As the trend for booking in local, drive-to destinations gathers pace, Airbnb also revealed that 80 per cent of bookings it saw were made for places between 50 and 300 miles of families’ own homes.
The booking platform highlighted the top ten trending staycation destinations for summer 2020, as detailed below:
- Warton, Lancashire
- Duns, Scotland
- Snettisham, Norfolk
- Glastonbury, Somerset
- Rothbury, Northumberland
- Chapel Saint Leonards, Lincolnshire
- Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
- Leiston, Suffolk
- Pickering, Yorkshire
- Guildford, Surrey
An Airbnb spokesperson told The Evening Standard: “The easing of government restrictions is good news not only for those keen to explore and stay beyond their own four walls again, but also for the hospitality industry and Airbnb hosts who depend on the income from hosting on our platform.
“In the last week we’ve seen a significant spike in demand as travel becomes a reality again, with our trending destinations showing people are keen to explore the many interesting towns and rural areas the nation has to offer, providing a welcome boost to local businesses.
“The safety of guests and hosts is our key priority and we have introduced comprehensive guidelines for cleaning and home sanitisation to do our bit to help people travel with peace of mind,” they added.
