Britons are going crazy for staycations according to Sykes Cottages, who have announced a 32% increase on domestic holiday bookings in January 2017 versus last year.
The Lake District in particular is proving popular with customers, with bookings up 67%. Wales is following closely with a 40% increase.
Graham Donoghue, CEO at Sykes Cottages said: “We’re seeing holidays in the UK fly off the shelf this January with greater demand than ever before. Our website has handled over 4.2 million holiday searches since Christmas proving the current strength of the market. It’s phenomenal to see how many people are choosing to holiday in the UK rather than go abroad this year."
“This trend is a huge opportunity for our property owners to increase bookings. We’ll be helping them to take full advantage of this surge by continuing to invest significantly in marketing our website.”
Inbound tourism is also going from strength to strength with a 71% increase on UK holiday bookings from overseas visitors booking in January 2017. This supports VisitBritain’s data forecasting an increase in overseas visitors to 38.1 million visits in 2017. (Source: visitbritain.org/forecast)
Founded 25 years ago, Sykes Cottages is one of the best-known brands and most respected operators in the holiday cottage rental agency market, having won the British Travel Award for best large self-catering agency for four consecutive years.
It manages over 7,500 properties across the UK and employs over 250 people at offices in Chester and Windermere, as well as regional managers across the UK.
