BCP | Destination Dreaming

British holidaymakers are making big changes to their holiday plans after lockdown, with four out of five planning to try new places rather than head back to the same old destinations.

Once overseas travel resumes - expected to be on or soon after May 17th for England - holidaymakers tell us they have big plans for the summer.

Our friends at Holidayextras asked 1,000 UK holidaymakers what they planned to do when overseas holidays resume. More than half said they normally go back to the same destination every year - but this year they are planning to be a lot more flexible and adventurous. Just 5% say they're planning to go back to the same place as usual, and another 14% said they might. After a year or more of intermittent lockdowns and limited travel everyone else - that's four out of five holidaymakers - say they want to try something new.

Holidayextras asked 1,000 UK holidaymakers all about their holiday plans this year. They found that people planning on visiting somewhere new wanted to enjoy a change of scenery (44%), with a fifth (20%) putting it down to lockdown giving them itchy feet and an urge to explore. 17% said that they have used the past year to save up in order to take a "special" holiday once it is legal again.

Some people are planning to venture outside their usual holiday comfort zone because they tried somewhere new last year - either by choice or necessity as some countries came off the UK's travel corridor so people who might have normally gone to Spain or Italy tried Greece,Turkey or further afield.

Not surprisingly, two in five say they just wanted a complete change of scene after most of a year indoors. One in five put their new destination flexibility down to simple "itchy feet". And another one in five say they've been saving up all year and can now afford a special bucketlist holiday once the planes get back in the air.

The top travel experiences and destinations also include a few surprises. While island-hopping in Greece tops the list, almost a third say they're most looking forward to a short break in the UK - which beat Fiji, Hawaii and even hiking the Inca trail as the second most popular break this summer.

We've been stuck in our houses for so long it's no suprise we're dreaming of sun, sand, crystal clear waters and amazing food and culture.

With over 200 Greek islands to choose from, there's an island for everyone to fall in love with. In fact we'd love to take the whole summer to explore them all, but we know that's not practical. So instead why not fly direct to one of the larger and more popular islands (most are only 3-4 hours from London) and then explore the smaller islands by ferry.

Greece is so keen on travel corridors it's already signed up to three, with Serbia, Cyprus and Israel for vaccinated travellers to pass freely from country to country. These come into effect from April and May, so there's nothing actually running yet - but the Greek islands, as a fundamentally tourist economy, are keen to get things moving in time for an early summer season so we expect to be back soon.

Our second most popular pick for this summer was a UK short break.

Not every adventure has to start with a plane ride, and if you want to get away before May 17th (when international travel is expected to resume from England) seeing some of the sights closer to home is not only your best but only option.