Over 50s out of the country this Christmas

A large amount of us over fifties are deciding to spend this Christmas abroad, with 71% of festive vacation-goers over the age of 51, new data from UK travel retailer Holiday Hypermarket has revealed.

In an analysis of bookings for Christmas 2016, the company found that 81% of these travellers were couples – meaning that the vast majority were holidaying without their families.

Meanwhile, the top holiday destination of choice is Tenerife – with as many as 24% of bookings flying out on the 20th of December to the popular resort in the Canaries for the Christmas period.

Interestingly, the numbers for people going on holiday over Christmas in their 60s is significantly lower, making up only 14% of all bookings.

Commenting on the findings Holiday Hypermarket representative Ian Crawford said: “There’s always been a strong interest in travel over the Christmas and New Year break, but it seems that winter sun is really popular at the moment, especially with slightly older couples.
“Those over 50 do tend to have a bit more money and time available to travel. We’re interested in why the numbers of winter holidaymakers seems to drop at 60+ though.

Initially, we thought it may be down to wanting to spend time with their grandchildren. The average age for a first-time grandparent in the UK is 47, so it doesn’t seem that this is the reason. Anecdotally though, it seems from speaking to our customers that many people in their 60s simply feel more comfortable spending Christmas at home. It will be interesting to see how this figure changes over the coming years for this reason. In five to ten years, it may be significantly different.”