The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Romantic Britons spend twice as much on dates
Dating worth £5.89bn to the UK economy a year
Britons spend £129 on going on a date typically – more than twice as much as their counterparts in countries such as France and Italy, research has found.
The average amount – the total spent by both people going on the date – covers costs such as transport, clothes, cosmetics, entertainment and food and drink.
The study, compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) for dating website Match, calculates that dating now contributes £5.89 billion per year to the UK economy.
Entertainment, restaurants, pubs and bars take up nearly half (48%) of Britons’ dating-related spend, with around £2.8bn spent in this category alone in the UK in 2016, per the findings.
The research surveyed more than 9,600 people across several countries, including 1,750 in the UK.
It found that an average date in France or Germany costs both daters a total of £46, while a date in Italy costs £47 typically and a date in Spain costs £55.
The research suggests that Britons spend more on transport to and from their date than people in the other European countries in the study.
Around 9% of UK date-related spending was invested on travelling to and from a date, compared with an average across the other countries surveyed of just 3%.
The research also found evidence of a growing trend towards people in the UK having dates at home rather than going out. The increase has, perhaps, been fuelled by the rise of digital entertainment subscription services and online takeaway ordering, it suggested.
Cebr calculated the total spent on eating in during a date across the UK has increased by £153 million over the last year.
One pair who did not stay in but – very publicly – went out on their date was Eugenie Bouchard and US student John Goehrke. The tennis star, on Twitter, agreed to go out with Mr Goehrke if the New England Patriots won February’s Super Bowl clash with the team she had backed: the, as it proved, luckless Atlanta Falcons. Mr Goehrke’s luck was in, though, and the Patriots completed an incredible overtime comeback to lift the trophy. Bouchard kept her word and tweeted pictures of the New York date.