As part of an international PR campaign with our parent group, 4media group, British Airways commissioned international research with Atomik Research. The research looked into the holiday habits of people around the world. Specifically, it focused on the death of the two-week holiday, how long people were holiday for, and the relationship between work, wellbeing and time away.
Atomik Research surveyed 21,000 UK adults, who are employed full-time and own a valid passport, across 12 markets: the US, UK, South Africa, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, France, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong.
Key findings from the research included:
- 69% of Brits did NOT have a two-week holiday in 2017.
- 35% of Brits say their last two-week holiday was more than two years ago
- 5% have never been away for this long! 71% of Brits only usually go abroad for less than two weeks.
- 78% of employed adults are allowed to take two week holidays by their company
- 33% haven’t been able to go on a two-week break as they just can’t get the time off work
- 25% are too worried about the work load piling up and coming back to a lot of work
- 38% believe that two week holidays are frowned upon or discouraged by their workplace
- 52% of employed adults have had left over holiday allowance at the end of the year. The main reason being that work is just too busy to take time off (49%).
- 55% of Brits wish they had spent more time at the destination during their last main holiday abroad
- 22% admit they wish they had taken more time off for their last holiday
- 20% came back dreading the return to work
- On average, Brits went on 2 holidays abroad in 2017.
- Across all the countries surveyed by BA, UK adults went on the least amount of holidays abroad in 2017.
- On average adults globally take 4 holidays a year.
- The most popular types holidays that Brits would like to take in 2018 are: European beach holidays (45%), European city breaks (40%) and the Caribbean (25%).
- 81% of Brits have been back to the same holiday destination more than once, visiting their favourite destination 8 times on average!
- 27% of Brits didn’t visit any new countries in 2017.
The international research formed the basis of broadcast and news generation campaigns in the UK and US to promote the launch of British Airway’s January Sale. The campaign generated over 90 pieces of coverage across both UK and US markets, with highlights including a range of regional Fox News sites and stations, 8 regional BBC slots, an appearance on Sky News Sunrise and a range of other local, commercial interviews, as well as 40 pieces of news coverage across print and digital publications. Highlights included cuttings in the Daily Express, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Scottish Sun and The Scottish Daily Mail, and articles on Yahoo, MSN, The Guardian, The Mirror, Huff Post UK, Express.co.uk, Stylist, Good Housekeeping and Shortlist.
