As part of ongoing research into the holiday habits of Britons, an independent cruise comparison website has conducted a study of 1,269 female holidaymakers across Britain who regularly partake in both cruising and dry land holidays. The study was conducted in order to discover the different attitudes that women have towards sunbathing when abroad, and women taking part were subsequently asked questions surrounding their sunbathing habits both when holidaying on dry land, and when on a cruise.

The study, conducted by www.CruiseCompare.co.uk, initially asked respondents ‘Do you sunbathe topless when on holiday on dry land?’ to which 21% of respondents answered “yes.” In contrast, just over a quarter, 27%, of female respondents claimed to sunbathe topless when on a cruising holiday.

Respondents who claimed to sunbathe topless on both types of holiday were asked to state on which type of holiday they felt most comfortable doing so. To this question, just over half, 52%, of respondents answered that they felt more comfortable sunbathing topless ‘on a cruise.’

When subsequently asked why this was the case, the majority, 49%, stated that they felt more comfortable sunbathing topless on a cruise because they felt ‘less exposed’ than they did when on a beach holiday; whilst a further 26% cited that they felt more comfortable because fellow cruisers ‘didn’t stare at them’ when sunbathing. 

Furthermore, 14% of the female respondents who sunbathed topless on a cruise holiday cited that they did so because they ‘felt safer’ than when on the beach; whilst a further 6% felt that sunbathing topless on a cruise liner ‘didn’t offend’ fellow cruisers, or the crew.

According to the research, just less than a third, 32%, of the total respondents would ‘never’ sunbathe topless when on holiday, regardless of what type of trip they were on. A further 3% of the women asked cited that they would never sunbathe topless in their ‘own garden’ at home.

Danielle Fear, Managing Director of CruiseCompare.co.uk, commented on the findings:

“Sunbathing topless whilst on holiday is an entirely personal decision; as long as the beach, pool or cruise liner doesn’t have regulations against it. Given that the practice is widely accepted across holiday resorts in Europe, we conducted this research to see how women really feel about it; and how their sunbathing habits change when on different types of holidays.”

She continued:

“It was interesting to see that most women who sunbathed topless claimed to feel more comfortable doing so on a cruise liner, and indeed the fact that more women claimed to do it when on a cruise. Cruise liners can indeed feel less exposed than an open beach, so it’s all about feeling comfortable in your surroundings. Women who don’t feel comfortable doing so should always remember that there is a great variety of swimwear available that can really reduce tan lines. These are a great option for those who hate strap marks, but like to keep a little more covered up when lying in the sun!”