We are in the middle of the two peak weeks of the great British summer holiday. In recent years, and during the economic crisis, the term ‘staycation’ has become part of the English language. Last year foreign visits were down by 15 per cent as more of us stayed at home. There were a number of contributory factors including employment status, less disposable income and the weakness of the pound.
A further trend has been a smaller shift away from package holidays to the making of our own plans. These are remarkable changes without precedent since the boom of the package holiday in the 1970s.
There are many beneficiaries from this change in holiday habits. Our own British resorts and attractions have been an increase in business as have some previously underused railway branch lines. There are many metrics that can be used to assess the impact but my eyes were drawn to one quirky example which is the increase of 14 per cent in the consumption of Cornish pasties!
Staycations certainly have their advantages. Travel and accommodation costs can be cut assuming that we limit our excursions to relatively local attractions. We can also think about those local places that we intend to visit at some time but actually never have. It is often the case that true visitors to our part of the world know more about some of our tourist attractions than we do.
There are some risks with a staycation that I have witnessed myself. It can be unwise to make your intentions too explicit to an employer. There is something really annoying about one of your managers ringing you at home and asking if you can do them a favour as you are still so local. Managers are supposed to provide cover and control expectations around work output at all times and that includes during our holidays.
Within West Sussex, we are fortunate to have a land area of which more than half is protected countryside. We have a long coastline and an attractive rural hinterland. Half of the newSouth DownsNational Parkis located inWest Sussex. Altogether we have a lot of leisure opportunities on our doorstep.
While I do not want to get too involved in direct holiday advertising, the Visiting Sussex website, covering West and East Sussex might be worth a look - Visiting Sussex - the very best things to see and do in East & West Sussex for 2022 - You Well (you-well.co.uk) Whatever we decide to do, I wish everyone a happy summer holiday.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
28th July 2010