Tourism industry set for staycation bonanza boosting jobs market

BRITAIN is set to be one of the big winners from the staycation boom this year even as the eurozone’s holiday hotspots struggle with the lack of international travel.

Holidaymakers from the UK are among Europe’s biggest spenders on overseas travel, but diverting that cash to domestic trips could create up to 300,000 British jobs, according to analysis from the Resolution Foundation.

By contrast, countries such as Greece and Spain that host many international tourists and Britons in particular, are set for another painful year.

Nye Cominetti, economist at the think tank, said: “An expected boom in ‘staycation’ holidays will provide some much-needed relief for the UK’S hospitality industry this summer, with areas such as West Wales, Devon, Cornwall and the Lake District set to do especially well from a rise in UK tourists choosing to explore their own country, rather than jet off abroad.”

Those regions are particularly popular with domestic tourists. They account for more than 80pc of nights spent in

Cornwall’s hotels, B&BS and holiday rentals, with the figure for Devon and West Wales close behind that.

It means the areas can expect a boom in demand as rival seaside destinations abroad are in effect shut off for those who do not want the disruption of Covid requirements, the risk of a positive test forcing them to cancel a trip, or a destination’s sudden move onto the “red list” placing them in costly hotel quarantine.

The foundation’s analysis indicates that if all Europeans and Britons took holidays at home instead of abroad, total spending in the UK would rise to more than £30bn – because far more Britons jet off overseas than foreign residents travel to the UK. This would represent a one-sixth rise in spending, which translated onto the hospitality workforce of 1.7m would generate 300,000 jobs. “It may not feel like it to those struggling to fill bars and beds in the UK, conditions aren’t as bad as they might be thanks to the ‘staycation’ boost.” said the Resolution Foundation’s report.

Last month employment in the sector was still down 11pc compared to its precovid level, with more than half a million still on furlough at the end of May.