New research by the UK’s fastest growing online independent travel agent has revealed that the majority of Britons look at more holidays before deciding where to spend their annual break away, than they do viewing homes before committing to living there.
 
Although choosing which house to live in is a big decision to make, a new poll by one of the UK’s leading online independent travel agents has revealed that Britons actually spend more time pondering over where in the world they’ll spend their next holiday.
 
sunshine.co.uk carried out the study as part of ongoing research into the part holidays play in Britons’ lives. 1,410 people were subsequently polled, each of whom being a homeowner and having been on holiday in the past 5 years. Respondents were asked questions surrounding how long it had taken them to make certain decisions and purchases in the past.
 
When asked, ‘How many houses did you go to view before deciding your current home was the one for you?’ the average number stated by respondents was 7. The people polled were then asked the same question, but this time in relation to their last holiday.
 
According to the results, each respondent looked at an average of 16 different holiday options before they made a final decision on where they would spend their last holiday.
 
Out of the total respondents polled, 82% owned a vehicle. These people were asked to specify how many different vehicles they had looked at before purchasing the one they currently owned. The average number stated by respondents was 5 vehicles, meaning the majority of Britons look at more holidays than both vehicles and houses before making a choice on which one to purchase.
 
When asked to rate, on a scale of one to ten, how important holidays were to them (1 being ‘not important at all’ and 10 being ‘extremely important’) the majority of respondents, 58%, selected ‘10.’
 
The people polled by sunshine.co.uk were then asked the question, ‘Which of the following would you prefer to have; the perfect home, the perfect holiday, or the perfect vehicle?’ A third, 34%, selected ‘the perfect holiday’ as the thing they’d most like to have.
 
Chris Brown, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, spoke about the research: “Holidays are evidently extremely important to some people, and it’s not difficult to see why.  Although it may seem quite shocking that people look at more holidays than houses before deciding which to buy, I think that many people are keen to do as much research as possible before committing to a certain resort or destination, as they want to be certain they’ll enjoy it.
 
He continued: “Although you could say the same about a car or a house; the internet has meant that it’s easier to research multiple holidays in minutes. People usually have a rough idea of the house or car they want before they set out to purchase one, but the choice on offer holiday-wise makes the process of picking and booking one a lot longer! Our advice would be to take as much time as you need before booking a holiday, because you really don’t want to end up stuck somewhere half way around the world that you really hate.”