Blog/Research

We are now firmly in September: the kids are back at school, it has finally started raining, and the repeated summer heatwaves are now a memory rather than a gruelling daily ritual. Here at Focaldata, we’ve run a few questions past a nationally representative sample of the British public quizzing them all about their holiday habits, preferred destinations, and, crucially, what they think about your own favourite getaway spots.

Some key findings include:

• The USA and Dubai both live up to their right-coded reputation. Thailand's laid-back left-of-average leaning image hides a surprisingly right-wing crowd, while Italy's many beauty spots draw a more left-leaning visitor than the existing stereotype suggests
• Cornwall and the Lake District may have a more right-of-average reputation, but the Brits actually holidaying there lean left - these are favoured spots for Britain's left-leaning staycationers
• Destinations associated with political extremes don't fly with the British public: Britain's most-loved destinations (Italy, the Lake District, Cornwall) all sit near the political centre, while the spots most strongly associated with either the right or the left (USA, Dubai, and especially Blackpool) all underperform on favourability

The majority of Brits (77%) do manage to get away from their homes for a holiday at least once a year. In fact nearly one in five of us (17%) take three or more trips away per year. 

The most popular unique destination is no surprise, Spain. More than 1 in 5 Brits (21%) have made their way to Spain in the past 12 months (aggregated across the mainland and islands), that’s significantly more than popular domestic spots like Cornwall, the Lake District, or Blackpool.

Different Spanish destinations attract different age groups. The mainland proves more popular among younger holidaygoers, while the Canaries must celebrate every time the Chancellor confirms the triple lock.

Plotting favourability rankings of each destination against age also demonstrates the strong appeal of Cornwall, the Lake District, and Scandinavia among older respondents, in comparison to the relative crash of in popularity of Asian destinations like Japan and Dubai.

Beyond where people themselves go, we dug deeper to understand Brits’ perceptions of these holiday destinations and whether or not these always aligned with the self-associations of those choosing to spend their hard earned downtime in each place.

Brits rate their own beautiful destinations very highly, with the Lake District and Cornwall taking 2 of the top 3 spots from presented options. Italy is certainly not out of place on this podium (no bias from the author here).

Naturally, the next question on any Focaldata researcher’s mind is “how do these favourability ratings relate to the political associations of each destination”? Which summer spot is tech-bro-coded, which is a lefty-getaway, and which spot is a haven for centrist dads in search of sun and sea?

The public view the USA as the most right-coded destination tested, leading the pack along with Dubai. At the other end of the scale, Blackpool ties with Scandinavia as the most left-coded holiday destination going - although even these emerge as right of the midpoint/political centre (5). This may suggest that the public see holidays as inherently right-coded.

We can’t simply leave this question there. Let’s dive into the disconnect between the associations of destinations, and how their respective visitors self-identity on an identical left-right scale.

Along our x axis below we have the average left-right self-placement of the visitors to each respective destination, whereas on the y axis we have the public’s average left-right rating of each destination. The USA and Dubai live up to their reputation, attracting right-leaning visitors just as the destination is perceived by Brits. In contrast, Blackpool and Scandinavia similarly attract as left-leaning an audience as their perception would lead Brits to anticipate.

However, there are a handful of destinations defying expectations here. Thailand, despite its moderately left-of-average associations actually attracts a significantly more right-leaning visitor than average. In contrast, despite Italy’s right-of-average associations, its visitors are more left-leaning than average. Don’t be so quick to assume your friend’s gap years to Thailand reveal their treehugger core, or their Tuscan retreat demonstrates their traditionalist instincts. 

Closer to home, Cornwall and the Lake District are rated as more politically right-coded than the people who actually holiday there. The right-leaning image of the British countryside doesn't match who's actually pitching up - left-leaning visitors seeking a domestic break without travelling overseas.

These differences between group perceptions and self-associations can be seen more clearly here:

The destinations seen as most right-wing (USA, Dubai) or left-wing (Blackpool) are not Britain's favourites. Instead, a horseshoe distribution can be observed when plotting favourability vs political associations - with the most beloved destinations (Italy, Lake District, Cornwall) all clustering near the political mean. At least in tourism, centrist ambiguity still appears to be the ticket for mass market appeal.

There are a couple of sets of demographic pointers worth noting. The data fights against the intuitive story that right-wing destinations attract an older, grey holidaygoer. The most right-coded destinations (Dubai, USA, but also Japan and Greece) have the youngest visitor bases, while the more neutral-to-left-coded Scandinavia and Canary Islands skew oldest.

Equally, those destinations with more right-leaning associations tend to skew more male in their make-up of visitors (with the notable exception of left-associated Scandinavia), and more left-leaning associations correlate with a female skew among visitors respectively.

A final word on Blackpool, sadly for them Britain's least-loved destination. It achieved a lowly 4.5 out of 10 on favourability, placing it bottom of the entire list, rated worst of all by Conservative voters specifically (4.0). However, it's also the destination Reform UK voters visit more than any other party's voters do (11%, far in excess of the Conservatives mere 2%), despite Reform's own favourability score for the place still failing to hit neutral at just 4.8, well below the destination-wide average of 6.3. The public reads Blackpool as Britain's most left-coded getaway, tied with Scandinavia, however its universally poor favourability ratings matched with its visitor rate by political party demonstrates that Blackpool is far from a "lefty getaway" but rather a flashpoint for a divide based on income, housing tenure status, political agency and belief in the system (the biggest dividing lines between Reform and Conservative voters, as demonstrated by other Focaldata research). It is visited most by the voters most alienated from the mainstream, yet still loved by none of them. 

British holiday habits turn out to be a revealing lens through which to navigate people’s personal political associations and projections onto others. What is going back to the office and talking holidays for, if not quietly reading into the political implications of your colleagues’ choices over the summer months..?

Data tables for this survey can be downloaded here.