Demand for self-catering holiday homes this summer has grown 20 per cent year on year at holidaylettings.co.uk™, the UK’s busiest holiday home website*. It is ‘staycation’ and short haul holidays that are drawing the most attention, along with a spike in demand for last minute bookings reflecting the heightened consumer spending awareness in tough economic times.

A third of all holiday letting enquiries sent in the first two weeks of July have been for holidays starting in July, with a further third for August holiday dates. As 64 per cent of those surveyed in the recent Holiday Lettings™ Travel Survey said they prioritise holidays over other disposable income purchases, the signs point to affordability being assessed at short notice, rather than people saving up for holidays year round.

Hot summer favourites experiencing the greatest year on year increase in demand are:
1)Malta
2)Morocco
3)Northern Ireland
4)Ireland
5)The Netherlands

While traditional summer holiday destinations continue to be the most popular destinations, in terms of volume of enquiries:
1)Spain
2)UK
3)France
4)Portugal
5) Italy

Demand from British holidaymakers for British holidays is still strong and still growing. The popularity of the ‘staycation’ in 2009 saw an 88 per cent increase in enquiries for British holidays. An increase of a further quarter in
2010 demonstrates the continued demand for holidays close to home, but Spain has reclaimed its top slot as Britons’ favourite summer holiday destination.
“There’s no doubt that affordability plays a significant part when reflecting upon the prominence of short haul summer holiday choices this summer,” comments Ross Elder, managing director of holidaylettings.co.uk. “Our

recent travel survey proved that holidays are still a number one priority, but the search activity shows that in order to have the all important holiday, tighter budgets are being applied.”
* Hitwise (January-December 2009)