One-third of Brits who have recently undertaken holidays abroad did so because of the recession, a survey shows.
Britons are increasingly opting to book trips abroad, such as holidays to India, in order to escape the economic problems at home, according to new research.
A survey carried out for travel insurance company InsureandGo found that redundancy was a key factor in encouraging foreign travel, with around 450,000 attributing their decision to head overseas to losing their jobs.
The poor state of the employment market is also causing more people to travel. Almost one-third (28 per cent) of graduates said they were planning to travel after university as they were unable to find a job.
Perry Wilson, founder of InsureandGo, said: “People’s disposable income might have shrunk, but it appears that the seemingly constant flow of bad news in the UK is encouraging a lot of people to pay for a plane ticket and get away to foreign shores for a while.”
Popular gap year destinations have traditionally included India, Thailand and Australia.
Gap year students have recently been advised that they could be due a tax rebate if they have only worked for half a year before going travelling.
People saving up for a trip are taxed on the assumption that they will be earning at that level all year, meaning that many have over-paid tax in the run up to their travels.
Written by Nicholas Scott
